Devil May Cry
by HiddenXEmotion
Summary: Ryona returns to help Dante with the problem on Mallet Island; Mundus, her grandfather. As they travel around the island, Ryona comes across some intresting clues of not only her family and friends from her past, but also clues about what had happened to Vergil after their last encounter. Ryona needs strength to get through all of this, and only Dante can give it to her.
1. Opening and Characters

**Opening and Characters**

Several thousand years have passed since the Demon Warrior Sparda used his legendary sword for the good of humans and sealed away the demon world…

Dante, with blood from the Demon hero Sparda and a human mother, has settled down with childhood friend Ryona, after the previous events of the tower several years ago.

Now with their relationship continuing with their Demon-Hunter Shop, Dante and Ryona find themselves in a bit of trouble when a psycho, once again, bursts in and drags them off into another horror story involving a member of the family; this time from Ryona's side.

**Dante**

He is the half-human, half-demon son of Sparda, the legendary demon swordsman who forsook his evil powers to seal the doorway between the demon world and the human world. Dante wields the twin, semi-automatic pistols Ebony and Ivory along with the symbolic sword Rebellion, given to him as a gift from his father years ago. Greatly skilled with these weapons, Dante and Ryona have been running their Demon-Hunting business for years, being the ones everyone runs to in their time of need.

**Ryona Kurrin**

A full demon that has been with Dante since they were children, now taking on the role of the infamous half-breed's partner in work and life; AKA, bride-to-be. Their personalities are much alike though Ryona happens to be the one better with children and clients but that doesn't keep the woman from fighting. With her blades of fire and ice, Ryona faces battle with a grin and her head held high as they both move forward each day, keeping memories of those important to her close to her heart.

**Trish**

A hauntingly beautiful woman who invites Dante and Ryona to Mallet island, gateway to the demon world. She possesses supernatural powers and vast knowledge about devils. It is said she knows Dante and Ryona's secret histories, but what is her true identity and purpose?

**Micheal Eglaore**

The young man returns, still searching for the sword he has chased all over the countryside. Not too happy in seeing Dante and Ryona again, he has to join with them to help with their problems. After all, he(sadly) still owes Ryona a debt that neither of them want to talk about with Dante.

**Nero Angelo**

A Knight on the Mallet Island. Not much is known but there's something about him that Ryona feels she knows, but what could it be? Her suspicions rise up even further when the Knight refuses to attack her and only attacks Dante. Is it a Knight's dislike of hitting women or a little something more?


	2. Chapter 1

**I HOLD NO CLAIM TO ANY OF THE ORIGINAL Devil May Cry CHARACTERS! NOTHING! :(**

**Chapter One**

**Invitation**

**The balls rolled across the pool table as the music played behind it**. The two players watched, a grin on the woman's face as she won. Her opponent's mouth fell open.

"You know, I'm starting to think you're cheating."

"Dante, I'm hurt," She pulled a face. She set her stick down and sat on the edge of the table. "You know I don't do that. You just don't like to lose."

"Who does?" The man replied, grabbing another slice of pizza from his desk.

Ryona Kurrin shook her head, smiling at her fiancé. Dante had matured since the events with Vergil and Lady and she admitted that she liked this older man better than she had before. His silver hair was baggy, just somewhat parted with his bangs brushed down. Dressed in his normal black and red attire, it pleased Ryona a lot that he still wore that red jacket that she had made for him.

The woman looked a few years older at the height of 5'8' with greenish-yellow eyes. Her red hair, which had been long once, had been cut short to her shoulders as rubies hung from her ears, matching the ring that sat on her left hand. Wearing black leather boots and pants, Ryona wore a white shirt tied closed on her left hip with no sleeves and a high collar; her blue and black jacket hung over the back of the couch.

"It's a blood moon, tonight," Ryona smiled, turning from the window. Dante had moved to his desk, taking a drink of his beer before setting it down again. "Oh, what's wrong? Don't wanna play again?"

"Nah, not really. Not pool, anyway." He gave her a teasing look and she smiled right back.

"I don't see a problem with that. Wanna start in the shower?" She had begun to stretch, sure to give him a good, teasing look of her body.

Dante stood from the chair, a huge smile on his face. "Hell yeah!"

She crossed her arms and dropped down onto the couch with a frown. "Then you should have cleaned the bathroom this morning when I asked you to."

Dante's mouth dropped open with a look of horror on his face at what she had just done to him. Before he could reply the phone rang. "Devil May Cry," He answered, shooting the woman a glare. She grinned, firmly pleased with her reply. "Sorry, we closed at nine." He then hung up the phone and sighed. "Why do you do this to me, Ryona?"

"Because you ask for it."

"Ask for it? How do I-" His voice was cut off as a blond woman on a bike burst in through the doors, breaking them apart.

"Not this again." Ryona sighed, instantly thinking of Arkham from all those years ago. ~At least she ain't bald, am I right? Could still be a psycho, though. Better be careful~

The woman was head to foot in black, if you could call her shirt a shirt with where it cut off, and wore a pair of sunglasses and long blonde hair.

"Whoa! Slow down, babe," Dante called from his desk. The woman got off the bike and moved forward, glancing over both of them. "Well, what do we have here?" Dante leaned forward on his desk. Ryona frowned as he looked her body over. "Nature calls? It's in the back." He tossed a thumb over his shoulder towards the bathroom.

The blonde didn't seem to notice as she glanced all at the skulls Dante had gladly pinned to the walls with his swords. "So, you must be the handy man who will take any dirty job. Am I correct?"

~And here I am, being ignored. Again,~ Ryona popped her feet up to the table in front of her, leaning back on the couch to watch. ~I swear, when the women see Dante in here I'm completely not here anymore. We gotta do something about that.~

"Almost." Dante stood up and grabbed Rebellion off of the poster of the woman on the wall. "We only take special jobs," He shot Ryona a wink, knowing what she was thinking. "If you know what I mean."

"You're the man that lost a mother and a brother to evil twenty years ago. The son of the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda, Mr. Dante."

~Yeah, but said brother showed back up a couple of years ago and kicked our asses,~ Ryona had to keep herself from replying verbally.

"Well, the way I figure it," He stepped forward again. "In this business, a lot of bad guys come along and if I kill each one that comes along, I should eventually hit the jackpot sooner or later."

"In that case, you should be used to this sort of thing." She lifted her right hand and grabbed the blade of his sword. Yellow electricity shot through it and passed onto Dante. Ryona watched in silence, not even fidgeting as the man was knocked backwards and Rebellion, his sword, pierced through his chest as she electrified him even more.

The woman gave a laugh. "Are you really the son of the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda? Didn't your daddy teach you how to use a sword?" Ryona watched with an amused smile as the bike was grabbed and tossed at the man on the floor.

"A sword? Ha!" Dante pulled out his infamous twin pistols, Ebony and Ivory, and twirled them on his fingers. "Time to go to work boys."

As he did his work, Ryona finally decided to stand up from the couch and make herself know. Ducking under the bike as it flew over her head, she grabbed the blonde and held her by the arm so she didn't move. "You know, attacking someone in their own home proves just how stupid you are. And ignoring me just makes my anger flare even more!" She didn't wait for a reply before shoving the woman away, tripping her to where she fell on her face as Dante approached them again.

"Even as a child I had powers," Dante stood over the woman with a glare in his eyes. "There's demonic blood in me." She crawled back in fear and awe as the man pulled his blade from his body. "You were the first one to know about our vengeance." He pointed Ivory at her face. "It looks like we're getting closer."

"It seems that way," she pushed herself up from the floor as Ryona took care of the fire before it could destroy their building. "But I'm not your enemy. My name is Trish. I came here to seek your help." She turned from him, staring out the busted doorway. "To put an end to the Underworld."

"The end the Underworld?" Ryona exchanged a surprised look with Dante. "That's one I've never heard before." She glanced back at Trish. "Who sent you?"

Trish took her sunglasses off and turned to face them. Ryona's breath caught silently as Dante's gasp was heard. She…she looked just like Dante's mother!

"Twenty years ago, Mundus, the emperor of the underworld, was resurrected." Trish told them.

"Mundus?" Dante looked over at Ryona.

"Grandpa, Grandpa, Grandpa," The redhead shook her head. "How could you?" She didn't sound like she cared too much, though.

"His powers were contained by Sparda," Trish continued. "He's attempting to gain control of the human world once again. He has been preparing to open the gate on Mallet Island."

"Mallet Island, huh?" Ryona frowned. Why did that sound familiar to her? She glanced at Dante. "What do you think?"

"I'm not sure," He frowned, thinking for a moment.

"I can pay you, of course." Trish told him.

Dante's head shot up with a grin. "Then it's settled! Lead the way!"

Ryona slapped a hand over her face as her chuckles escaped her lips. She should have seen that one coming a mile away.

~Ladies and gentlemen, my future husband~

And she wouldn't have him any other way.

**Short, yes, but it is the beginning.**

**PLEASE REVIEW :)**


	3. Chapter 2

**I HOLD NO CLAIM TO ANY OF THE ORIGINAL Devil May Cry CHARACTERS! NOTHING! :(**

_**Chapter Two**_

_**Curse of the Judge of Death**_

"**You know…doesn't this kinda remind you of a certain tower we had to deal with years ago full of monsters and an evil idiot trying to become your father?" **Ryona asked as Trish opened the gateway for them, giving them view of the large castle that was waiting on them. ~And how our last inviter became the main bad guy of the entire thing?~ She told herself, glancing at Trish in silence.

"Yeah, I haven't forgotten that, Ryona, so don't worry." Dante told her. His voice told her that he was thinking the same thing she was. They would keep an eye on Trish, no doubt about that. They were ready for anything this time.

"What's up with all the damn birds?" Ryona asked, glancing at the said island-stalkers.

"Maybe something's dead?" Dante offered with a shrug.

Trish glanced at them. "The castle is above this cliff. Come on, let's go." She jumped and disappeared above them. Ryona got ready to follow but Dante just walked down the path before them. She followed him with a smile.

"You know, I wouldn't mind living in a castle all those years ago," She decided to say as they neared the doorway they were shooting for. "Having everyone at my beck and call would be pleasing for me."

"Is that right," Dante glanced at her. "Are you trying to tell me something?"

She smiled at him. "I don't know; am I?"

As his answer, Dante held the door open for her, bowing as she passed him to get inside. She giggled and took in the main-room of the castle. Trish was not inside, leaving her to look at just a statue of a knight on the horse, a large flight of stairs and a giant monument of her grandfather, Mundus.

~Wow,~ She told herself. ~No wonder Grandma had a thing for him. He's gorgeous! Wait, is it strange that I find him attractive?~

"Hey, Ryona," She heard laughter in Dante's voice. "Close your eyes."

"Huh? Why?" She asked as he grabbed her shoulders.

"Just trust me."

"Ok," She did so and walked waited as he led her somewhere. She was still for a moment as he backed away from her.

"Now, open them." She could hear a tone of amusement in his voice.

"Dante, what i-" Her voice caught before a scream of horror popped out of her throat. "NOT YOU AGAIN!"

The door that led the way out of the room possessed Ryona's old, cursed friend. That red hand from the tower. It swiped out at her but she jumped back as Dante slapped his knee, laughing uncontrollably.

"Goddammit! Why? Why are you following me!?" She demanded, stomping a foot.

"Maybe it likes you that much," Dante told her. It resulted with him limping through the passage after they removed that creepy hand.

Something told Ryona that this castle was going to be a lot like the tower had been; full of puzzles and clues that they had to figure out. And when they came across a gate they couldn't lift to get to the other side, she knew she had been right.

"Next thing you know, Micheal's gonna come falling out of the ceiling," she chuckled to herself sourly.

"Hey," Dante smiled. "At least we're getting paid for it."

"Yeah, that's true, at least." She nodded as they climbed up a staircase.

"And at least you're here with me." He grinned.

"Yeah, yeah, that's another good reason." She smiled; it then faltered into a frown at the sight of the huge doll sitting there at the foot of a table. "Well, that's not creepy at all," She looked at Dante. "Let's call it Chucky."

Dante laughed, glancing up at the hole in the ceiling. "You stay here, I'll check up there." She didn't argue and watched as he jumped up there. She got a strange feeling from that Marionette and moved away from it a bit. "Hey, I found a key!" Dante called down.

"Good, not let's go."

"Not a prob-ahh!" His surprised caught her attention and she turned to call up to him but froze herself as the doll had picked itself up, getting ready to attack her.

"How in the hell-" She cut through the doll with one of her sword, making it fall to the ground. "Did that thing move?"

"There's apparently going to be a lot of them," Dante told her as he dropped down to her side, tossing a wooden arm over his shoulder.

She cursed kicking at the wooden body. "It's the curse of the Bloody Puppets," She moved towards the stairs again.

The key Dante found was useful in the set of large, blue doors in the main room; Ryona was glad that damn red hand wasn't there again. This room was huge with a biplane up on some stilts; look like it had been there for a while. She wondered who brought it here as her eyes landed on more of those puppets again. Not good.

The red door was locked, this time the hand being white instead of red( Ryona stayed as far away from it as she could) and Dante quickly figured out that they had to open another passage by hitting a shield much like the events in the tower. It turned the floor beneath them into an elevator to the Square room below. The result was being attacked by more of those Marionettes, the line seemed to go on forever, before they finally stopped getting up.

"What, no prize this time?" Ryona asked, glancing around the room.

"Come on, no need to get mad now. At least we won't be bored going through his place."

That was true. The Marionettes had fallen to the floor to attack them in the room above when they had returned and their defeat made the white hand disappear.

"Why us?" Ryona asked the man beside her as they moved towards the door. "Why are we always the victims of crazy shit like this?"

"Because we're just that damn awesome." Dante opened the door and went to walk through just to have a pan smashed into his face. He fell backwards to the floor.

Ryona leaned over his face. "Yeah, awesome, huh?"

"Oh Jesus, it's you two again."

Ryona lifted her head as Dante pushed himself into a sitting position and frowned, mocking the look on the face of the man standing in the doorway. "Well," She began. "At least you didn't came crashing through the ceiling."

The man looked to be in his middle twenties with short, strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes at the height of 6'2'. He was wearing a pair of black cargo pants and a plain, white shirt beneath a red, button-up shirt with black flames and combat boots with Hermes symbols on the side. Hanging from his left war was a silver, Knight Chess Piece earring. On the side of his neck was a black cross tattoo.

"Micheal Eglaore?" Dante asked, holding his nose. He then glanced down at the pot in the man's hand. "A pan?"

"Eh," Micheal moved out of the doorway, giving Ryona room to move into the hallway. The man had leaned down to the large sack at his feet, shoving the pan back inside it. "What are you two doing here?"

"Getting paid to stop Grandpa from taking over the world." Ryona answered him. "Yourself?"

"I figured that," He slung the sack over his shoulder. "Actually, Alastor's trail led me here."

"Alastor?" Ryona sounded surprised. "Your brother's sword?"

"That's the one," The man smiled. "And about damn time, too. It only took about 50 freakin' years!" He glanced at Dante. "Sorry about that, man. I thought you were one of those creepy doll things, again."

Dante waved it off with a hand, wiping the rest of the blood off of his face. "How have you been?"

"Not too bad," As the men talked, Ryona turned and found herself looking at the dark, eerie landscape painting. Then, suddenly, Michael had grabbed her and ripped her around, pulling her left hand up to eye-level. She flushed, realizing that he was staring at the ring on her finger. Michael sighed and dropped her hand, scratching the back of his head. "Well, at least I know you'll take care of her," He told Dante. "After all, you nearly killed your brother for her."

Dante gave a laugh. "Yeah, you can say that, can't you?"

"So, can we expect you to join us on our trip again?" Ryona asked the taller man.

"Eh, why the hell not?" Michael grinned. "We'll have some time to catch up. After all, I tried to leave you behind in the tower but kept bumping into you guys anyway so why try to hold it off?"

And with that, the DMC trio was formed once again, there to help eachother survive the Mallet Island nightmare. They walked down the large pathway together, hitting multiple locked doors along the way as more dolls decided to attack them. When they reached the stairs at the end of the hall, Ryona froze at the statue of the woman with a sword sticking out of her chest.

"What the hell is wrong with people these days?" She asked herself. A squeal of joy made her jump and she moved out of the way as Michael ran forward, his eyes wide.

"I don't believe it! I found it! I actually found it!"

"Found it?" Dante asked, glancing at the weapon. "You mean this is the Alastor you've been looking for?"

"Yes!" He turned to look at the two of them. "This is-" He was cut off as the sword was somehow yanked itself out of the wall and stabbed him in the back.

"Michael!" Ryona cried as he crashed to the floor.

Dante ran forward to help but as he leaned over Michael a shocked look felt over his face. "How are you not dead? I knew you were a strange human but not it seems that you're something more than that. "

Michael gave a grunted gasp as he sat up; the sword had nearly gone straight through him. "Yeah, well, that's my little secret."

Ryona sighed. ~What is it with men liking to get stabbed with swords lately? First Dante and now him.~ She turned back to the Statue of the woman and found that it had changed. "This new picture," It was a Death form of multiple arms. "It looks like it should be holding something."

"This new picture," Ryona looked at the Death form of multiple arms that had replaced the woman statue. "It looks like it should be holding something."

"Then let's go find it!" Dante told her.

The next door led them into a library that looked like it hadn't been touched in years. Actually, none of this looked like it had been touched in years. A huge tree seemed to be growing out of the floor towards the back and Micheal examined it as Dante and Ryona found another rusty key in a Grim Reaper portrait. They were then led back out into the hall and to the set of large, locked doors that the key unlocked for them. There was a huge fountain in the middle of it and Marionette dolls, waiting to attack them. Off to the side, a statue of a lion was hidden behind some kind of blue force that reminded Ryona of the red hand, but thankfully it wasn't. The path they were left to take was the broken stairs that wasn't a problem for either of them and it led them to another set of doors that was locked behind them with that damn, cursed hand as more dolls attacked them.

"That hand really has a thing for you, Ryona," Michael grinned. "Just be thankful it's white this time."

(XDXD, above joke a thought of my brothers. Forgive me)

The next path they found by mere luck. They had come across a dead end and as Dante and Ryona looked for a door, Michael had leaned against the coffin and ended up making it move backwards, revealing a hole leading down into the floor.

"You don't believe that shit," Michael smiled as he led the way down. "Hey, Ryona, it's that friend of yours."

Ryona growled, thinking that he was talking about another damn hand and was pleased when it was the statue of that dead guy again; and in this hand was a staff.

"Hey, look at that," Dante grinned, reaching up and grabbing it. "You were right, Ryona. Now we just gotta go give it to the other guy."

"Yeah, it'll probably open another doorway or something to us," The woman nodded, turning to watch as a doorway was opened in the wall behind them. After all the crap the three of them had been through, stuff like that didn't surprise them anymore.

The path led into the library again but as they tried to leave, Ryona's hand-friend blocked their path again as a creepy, girlish laugh sounded through the area.

"Oh, I've a bad feeling about this," Michael sighed, turning to the sight of the three Sin Scissors that decided to attack them. They were in a pain in the ass with all the disappearing they decided to partake in but they went down just like the dolls.

Outside, Ryona placed the Staff in the statue's hand as Dante and Michael stomped on little baby spiders that had a strange orange…stuff on their backs. The statue split down the middle in a strange light, revealing a new path for them to follow.

**PLEASE REVIEW :)**


	4. Chapter 3

**I HOLD NO CLAIM TO ANY OF THE ORIGINAL Devil May Cry CHARACTERS! NOTHING! :(**

**Chapter Three**

**Destroyer of the Black Knight**

**The path led them to the cathedral where more of Ryona's friends decided to block off all exits.**

"You know, I'm starting to think that they're following your scent," Michael commented with a frown. "Are you on your period or something?"

Ryona glared at him, her face growing dark red. "Shut up, you jerk!"

Dante gave a laugh and walked towards the front of the room. "You two are still such children."

Michael laughed and followed him but Ryona froze with a frown on her face. She didn't really act like a child, did she? After all, she saw herself more of the adult than Dante was.

"The Pride of the Lion," Michael's voice grabbed her attention and she hurried up to the floating block the two men were looking at. "Is granted only to those who choose the path of trials.' Huh, what does that mean?" As his answer the block began to glow and floated higher and higher over their heads just to shoot a beam of bluish-purple light at the door behind them, shattering the hand and making a path for them. Michael wore a frown. "Really? It's totally leading us into a trap."

"If so," Dante replied walking towards the door. "We can get out of it."

"Whoa, you're not seriously thinking about going through there, are you?"

"You got any better ideas?" Ryona asked him, following after the other man.

"No, but-"

"Don't be scared, Michael," Dante called over his shoulder as he moved through the door. "You got your sword, right? You'll be fine."

Michael kicked at the ground before hurrying after them. They found themselves outside on a bridge. They walked across to the center structure that was sitting in the claw-like design at the end.

"It's the staff of Hermes," Ryona commented at the carving as Michael stared at the one with the lion head.

"'Go back the path and thou shalt return from the abyss with thy lionheart, and thou shalt receive the Pride of the Lion.'" He frowned again. "What the hell? I think this place is crazier than that damn tower of your brother's, Dante."

"You can say that again." The silver-haired man sighed as he led the way back across the bridge.

Ryona went to walk after them but something caught her sight. She lifted her head and stared at the tower closest to the cathedral. The figure had been moving but the moment her eyes landed on it, it paused. She realized that it was a man, dressed in some kind of black armor with a large, velvet cape. He seemed human but even from this distance Ryona knew that he was…strange. He had stopped moving for a moment before turning his head to where their eyes locked.

Goosebumps crawled over her skin as a strange feeling settled in her stomach. She didn't know why but she felt like she had seen those eyes before. But they were glowing a strange orange but the fierce gaze that they gaze her…it felt familiar to her, but how?

"Hey," Ryona jumped as the hand landed on her shoulder. Dante was standing behind her now. "You all right?"

She turned her gaze back to the tower but found that the Knight had disappeared. The strange feeling she had was still there, though. "Yeah," She nodded. "I'm-" Her gaze landed on the bridge and found out that it had been smashed to pieces and Michael was on the other side by the large doors they had come through earlier. She tilted her head to the side. "What the hell happened?"

"Well," Dante smiled. "While you were busy daydreaming, the bridge shattered apart and Michael and I took a swim."

She frowned in confusion. "Really? But…" Had she really been staring at that Knight for that long?

"Are you sure that you're okay? You seem a little out of it right now." Dante's grip was firm on her shoulder. "Do you need to rest."

She waved his hand off. "No, I'm fine. Let's just get through this." She shrugged the feeling off of her and gave him a grin. "Really, Dante, I'm fine."

Back inside the cathedral they received that Pride of the Lion Tablet.

"So, what exactly are we supposed to do with th-" Michael's voice was cut off with the sound of glass breaking from behind them. All three turned in time to see this huge, ugly ass white and orange spider landing behind them in the middle of the cathedral.

"What the hell!?" Was ripped out of all three mouth and the Goosebumps returned to Ryona's skin as it stepped closer to them.

"Bah! More small ones!" the spider's voice was deep. "I sensed something a little bigger. What a disappointing catch. Though the woman does have a little something more." His eyes crawled over her; Ryona slipped behind the men.

"What a big surprise," Dante smirked. "I hope for your sake you've got something besides that big body of yours." He tapped his knuckles against one of its legs.

"You puny pathetic thing. I'll step on you like an ant!" Phantom raised a foot back as he gave a horrid laugh and went to stop on them. Dante jumped over his back, Michael dodged to the left, and Ryona rolled under its large body, coming to a stop behind it as Dante landed beside her.

"Three to one?" Michael grinned, whipping Alastor out. "This should be easy as pie."

It was easy, but it took so freakin; long and that tail of his hurt like a bitch! But when you have a demon and a half-breed that can jump pretty high and an inhuman dude that can fly you're pretty much safe for that entire battle.

Phantom's white skin grew into a red as he gave a roar of pain. He then seemed to melt into the ground, disappearing.

"Ah, what a scared piece of-" Ryona rolled her eyes as Michael continued to grumble at the running enemy.

"Don't worry about it, Mikey," Dante smiled. "He'll be back!"

"Well, when he is, he's mine!" Michael told them. "No on burns my clothes in lava and then runs away!" Ryona turned to see what her friend was talking about and found the bottom right of his pants were burned, showing off a bright white calf.

"I swear, sometimes you think he's a woman." She told herself quietly.

They found themselves back in the hall and made their way back to the room with the large fountain and lion structure about halfway through the hall. Phantom, the spider, decided to drop down on them but they quickly made it to the room as Michael cried out slurs that wouldn't be suitable for little children's ears.

"Are you sure that this is something that we needed?" Ryona asked, looking at the Tablet in Dante's hand.

"Well, there was nothing else for us to do, right? It has to have something to do with this lion or else it wouldn't have been there."

"I guess you're right. Not much else that we can go on, huh?"

"No, he agreed. "Not really." He went to step forward but then glanced back at the woman. "Step back."

Ryona smiled at the sign of his concern and backed away like he had asked. As he did this thing, Ryona settle herself into thinking what she was going to say to her grandfather when she finally got to meet him. Many things passed through her mind but perhaps the biggest question that she was wanting the answer to what was her mother like…

As the lion statue was shattered, Ryona watched as the dark shadow cat jumped out in an attack; Dante slashed that in seconds flat but Michael just had to get his word in on it.

"Dante, you need to keep your pussy from getting wild."

"Do you HAVE to talk like that? It makes you sound immature." Ryona shot Dante a look as he laughed at the comment.

"Come on, hun," Dante grinned. "He's just trying to make jokes."

"Well, let's keep them from being sexual, yeah?"

"But where's the fun in that?" Michael grinned as he opened the door to their next destination. "Come on, Ryona, you know just as well as I did that you made sexual puns when you were my age too." He shot her a wink and disappeared through the next door.

She hung her head as she moved after him. "Michael…I AM you're age."

There was another switch they had to hit in the bottom of the room and it turned into an elevator like object like the one from earlier had. The entire room was covered in dust and some kind of icky web that instantly made Ryona think back to Phantom; kind of hard not to when he just chased you down the freakin' hall! Michael and Dante ran up the stairs as Ryona took the easy way up on the elevator. There were marionettes here and there but Dante and Michael had to deal with those a few flights down. Ryona wore a huge smile as she moved ahead through the doors that the elevator had stopped her in front of.

It was a bedroom, old but grand at the same time. There was a bed in the back left corner by the windows and right beside it was a baby cradle. She frowned. There was a strange feeling in this room. Glancing around again, she found a mirror and then some kind of statue and a sun figure on the wall but what really caught her attention was the painting on the wall across from the bed. Instantly, Ryona grabbed the locket hanging around her neck and opened it, holding it up beside the painting. A small smile spread across her lips. This was her mother's room. And if this was her mother's room then that meant that that cradle…had been her's.

Modeus, Baul, and Aowin were all in the painting, a small child in Aowin's arms; her. Ryona had been right. Her mother had been torn between the two demon brothers…just like she had been. Modeus, the younger brother, had won her heart though, just like Dante had done her's. And she could see why. It's not that Uncle Baul looked bad but damn her father was HOT!

Aowin wore a smile on her face as she held the child in her arms lovingly. Her gown was a dark violet with black lacing as her long red hair was twirled together, being brought over her right shoulder as her blue eyes seemed to shine.

Standing behind her was Modeus. This was the first time that she had seen a picture of her father and she could tell right off that she was his daughter; he had her yellow-green eyes and the smile he wore was completely the won she would wear when she looked or through about Dante. His long black hair was brushed back on his left side with his bangs hung over the right side with pointed ears. He was dressed completely in black. As Ryona had said before; a capital H-O-T!

That left the third member of the painting, standing on her mother's other side. Baul had the same eyes as his younger brother but his hair was short and grey as he was dressed in silver and blue.

All of them wore brilliant smiles, telling Ryona that this was painted before everything bad had happened. Before she was taken. The very thought of being with her parents, if even for a little while, made tears spring into her eyes. She had feared that they had never held her; once.

"I can give you three guesses on who that is." Dante's voice made Ryona turn a bit to find him standing beside her, gazing over the picture himself.

She wiped her eyes. "Oh? And who is it?"

"The mother, father, and uncle of one hell of a gorgeous woman." He grinned at her. "She even outshines her mother."

She gave a laugh. "I wouldn't go that far," She set the locket back around her neck. "Dante…before we leave…can we come back here?"

"Come back to the room?"

"Yeah," She nodded. "I'm gonna hang this painting in my room."

Dante wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. "In OUR room."

She closed her eyes. "I'll hold you to that." She then opened her eyes again. "Where's Michael?"

As her answer, the man she was looking for gave off a girlish scream from behind and they both turned to find the man jumping back from the mirror. He had shoved the Death sentence Sword into the chest of the woman statue and retrieved the Melancholy Soul from her mouth but also seemed to have freed a knight out of the mirror. Ryona jumped.

"You!" She pointed at the Knight. It was the man that she had been staring at in the tower not even an hour ago!

"You know this guy?" Dante asked.

He didn't receive an answer. She found herself caught in those extreme eyes again. The familiar feel of them made the Goosebumps reappear. She knew this guy, she had to, but who could it be? How could she have known him?

Of course both of the men noticed the Knight's stare and Dante stepped forward as Michael placed himself between the woman and their new 'friend'.

"This stinkin' hole was the last place that I'd find anyone with some stinkin' guts. Especially guts to look at my woman like that!" Dante growled.

The Knight stared at him for a moment before snapping his fingers. The doors to the balcony opened up and with a wave of his hand to Dante, the Knight jumped out.

"Well, would you look at that?" Michael grinned. "A man who DOESN'T like to fight in the bedroom." Ryona smacked him in the head.

"Ryona, Michael," Dante moved towards the doors. "I want you two to stay up here."

"What?" She was surprised as she followed out onto the balcony after him. "But why?"

"It's a guy-thing, Ryona. Let him do what he's gonna do." Michael gave the other man a thumbs-up. "Go get 'em, Dante." The half-breed gave Michael an appreciative grin and jumped down into the courtyard below. The man dropped his hand and lowered his face into a frown. "That Knight…do you know him?"

Ryona shook her head. "I don't think so. There's just something about him that seems familiar though." They watched as the said Knight dropped down from the top of the castle and began to battle with Dante.

"Well, he definitely seems interested in you. Maybe it's the black knight come to steal the princess."

"Please, I'm not a princess." Ryona frowned.

"On the contrary," Michael informed her. "Your grandfather is Mundus. The Prince of Darkness. The Dark Emperor. The Devil King, whatever you want to call him. Your mother was the Princess, just as you are. Perhaps the Knight was sent here to take you back to your grandfather…or something like that."

For some reason, at that, Ryona's mind traveled back to the voice that she had heard all those years ago during the events with Vergil. The voice that called to her on the banks of the Underworld while the brothers had fought.

"_**You have finally returned.**__ After all this time you have come back to me. Don't be frightened. You're safe here, Ryona Kurrin." _The laugh made her shiver. _"I know more than just your name, Ryona. I've kept my eye on you since the moment you came out of your mother's womb."_

**It could have been Mundus, yes, but Ryona just didn't know. **She was silent for a moment, watching as Dante and the Knight's fight drew to a close.

"I just…I just don't know." She sighed. "Let's not talk about this unless we have to."

"Well, if your grandfather is behind all of this like that woman told you he was then you'll have to face him sooner or later and I'm sure that that'll be one of the first things out of Mundus' mouth when he sees yo-"

"DANTE!"

Michael lifted his head to find that the Knight had knocked Dante's sword from his hand and now had the man pinned against the side of the castle with one hand around his neck, his feet a good couple of feet hanging above the ground. Ryona had dove off of the balcony and hurried over, her own swords drawn. The knight jumped back from her, dropping Dante to the ground behind her, coughing. A laugh erupted from the Knight's throat and he wagged a finger side to side, as it telling her she was naughty for interfering. Her throat caught. There was only one person that she remembered doing that to her.

"Get back, Ryona," Dante had pushed himself to his feet and placed himself between the Knight and the woman again. The Knight seemed like he was going to make a move until he froze. Dante looked confused for a moment before noticing that his half of his mother's amulet was pulled out into view during the fight.

~it couldn't be that, could it?~

A blue static covered the knights body and he began to moan, holding his head as he tried to shake the pain away. They all watched in confusion as he then disappeared into a strange ball of light, flying off from the courtyard.

"What the hell just happened?" Michael asked.

"I don't know, but," Dante shook his head as he stared down at the amulet around his neck. "I'm not sure that I like it."

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	5. Chapter 4

**I HOLD NO CLAIM TO ANY OF THE ORIGINAL Devil May Cry CHARACTERS! NOTHING! :(**

**Wow, the two levels are really short today. **

_**Chapter Four**_

_**Guiding Soul of the Evil Waterways**_

"**Well, it doesn't matter now that he's gone so let's go."**

Michael's voice grabbed Dante's attention and he turned from the amulet on his neck. He moved forward to head inside the building again but had to pause to take care of another of their cat friends that decided to show back up again. It wasn't a problem. They hurried back to Aowin's room and Ryona let the boys lead the way. Her mind was still caught on the Knight.

It was confusing. Why did she feel like she knew him? Maybe she was just being weird but that action he had given her…it made her think of Vergil. Now she knew that there was no way in hell that the Knight could have been Vergil because…well, she didn't have a because. Perhaps her thoughts were just wrong. She needed to stop thinking about something that couldn't possibly happen.

They had made their way back down the stairs and to a blue door below that Michael had placed the Melancholy Soul in the mouth of a lion(there seemed to be a lot of lions around here) and entered the new area.

"The Sewers?!" Ryona immediately frowned. "Really?" She hung her head.

"Stop being such a girl, Ryona." Michael told his friend as he trudged through the nasty water.

"But she is a girl, Michael." Dante chuckled. "How can she stop being herself."

"You know, Claire didn't have a problem with this during the events in Raccoon City." The man grumbled.

"That's because Resident Evil is just a video game." Ryona hissed at him, still standing in the doorway. She really didn't want to do this. She wouldn't have had a problem with it if she had her boots on but today just had to be a day that she decided not to wear them.

"Here," Dante wore a small smile on his face as he shook his head at her before turning his back to her.

Ryona gave a small smile before jumping on Dante's back. She couldn't help it. She closed her eyes and rested her chin on his shoulder. "You're sweet."

"Don't worry," He told her as he moved through the water. "Don't have any problem in doing this. I'll carry you wherever you need to go."

Michael gave a silent smile as he led the way through the water. It was sweet, seeing the two of them like that. Normally he would make a comment to ruin the mood but he just didn't feel like it today. He'd let the two of them have their moment and stay out of it. Dante was going to have a hell of a time trying to fight with his girlfriend on his back, though, so Michael was going to move fast to make sure neither of them got hurt.

(This totally makes me think of Inuyasha always carrying Kagome around. I'd drop Kagome on her ass every time she tried to ride me like that but eh, too each their own)

They ended up finding another key down here and got attacked but a bunch of huge, flying bugs. Ryona had her fun in shooting them from Dante's back with Ebony and Ivory. Dante gave her pointers as they made their way through the halls again. Dante paused for a moment. Ryona turned her head to stare at the large ram head hanging on the wall in front of them. She went to call out to Michael to keep him from moving but she was too slow and the two demons found themselves watching as the other man was running from the enemy as much as he could in the small, square force field that he was now contained in.

"I swear, he has some of the worst luck." Dante shook his head.

"Always has," Ryona chuckled. "But he'll be fine. He can't die, remember."

"Yeah, I had forgotten all about that." Dante glanced back at her. "You still owe me that explanation on how you two met."

Ryona gave a nervous chuckle. "Now's really not the time to get into such a conversation. Maybe after this whole event."

"I won't forget this time, Ryona." The half-breed told her.

"Thanks for the help, jerks!" Michael gasped as the force field fell.

"You had it under control," Dante grinned at the other man.

"Who in the hell uses a pair of scissors to fight?" Michael demanded, taking a breather. "This shit is pissing me off. Every time I run into you," He glared at Ryona. "Weird shit happens."

"Hey, I didn't drag you here. You came here of your own free will." The woman huffed. "Don't blame this on me."

"But I can blame it on you and I'm going to." The man replied, straightening back up.

Ryona scowled as he disappeared around the corner. "Stupid little-"

"Don't let him get to you," Dante told her. "He's just letting off some steam."

"You would think that he would let it off while fighting, not afterward."

"Well, it seems that fighting MAKES him build up steam, not release what he already has. Why it's that way I don't know. Just keep it in mind. He might be immortal but that doesn't mean he likes fighting like you and I do."

Ryona opened her mouth to respond but found no words. She had never thought of it that way. Michael had been human once before he had come to her. Perhaps killing all these things was a bit much to him, even after all these years. Perhaps Michael was still a bit human after all.

"Hey, check this out." The man came back from around the corner, a huge key in the shape of a sun in his hand. "It's called the 'Guiding Light'."

"The Guiding Light?" Dante tilted his head. "I wonder where it goes."

"Let's go find out. I remember all the crap we had to go through in your brother's tower," Michael walked past them, shoving the key in his pocket. "I'm sure we'll find what we need."

Ryona smiled. "Just be sure not to lose it." She teased. Her answer was a few curses and a middle finger over Michael's shoulder.

**Wow, those two levels really were short but due to the way I'm setting these chapter up I can't write any more on this chapter. Maybe I'll make another chapter today for you guys.**

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	6. Chapter 5

**I HOLD NO CLAIM TO ANY OF THE ORIGINAL Devil May Cry CHARACTERS! NOTHING! :(**

_**Chapter Five**_

_**Holding the Key of the Knight's Return**_

"**Actually, now that I think about it, I saw another figure of that sun up there in that bedroom." **Dante told them as they back-tracked through the sewers.

"Really?" Michael asked him. "Where was it?"

"It was a plaque hanging by the bed. I didn't get a chance to read it but I know it was there."

"Well, it couldn't hurt to go back and look at it, could it?" Ryona asked.

"No, I guess it couldn't." Michael agreed. "It's better than the idea I was having."

"And that was?"

"Running around like an idiot, looking for answers."

"Yeah, Dante's is better."

…

"Bitch."

Ryona gave a snort as Dante chuckled. Michael wore a grin himself. Michael was annoying but at the same time he was fun to be around. He was a friend that Ryona was glad that she had met all those years ago and wouldn't change it for the world.

They didn't really run into any more monsters as they ran through the sewers until a large growl caught their attention from behind. Ryona's eyes widened in fear. It was that huge spider again, Phantom.

"RUN!" She squealed at her ride. Dante gave a laugh as he hurried after Michael(who had taken off pretty quickly himself)

"What does this damn thing want from us?!" The man cried out, glancing over his shoulder.

"I don't know and I sure as hell don't want to find out right this second!" Dante called up to him.

They lost him the moment they exited the sewers. Ryona instantly slid off of Dante's back (after a quick peck on the check) and they hurried up to what had once been her mother's room. She paused to look at the mirror in silence, thinking about that Knight from before as the men hurried over to the plaque beside it that Dante had been talking about.

"'The brightness of the guiding light will scorch you. Only those who can bear the light can open the new path'?" Michael read aloud. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means to just use the damn key we just got." Dante grinned at him. "So use it!"

Grumbling, Michael did so and watched as the plaque lifted, showing off a…door?

"Really?" Ryona asked her. "That's all we got after going through that damn sewer? We couldn't just break the plaque to begin with and go through anyway?"

"You forget, this is Mundus' manor. He might have 'surprises' for us if we try to do that."

Ryona paused for a moment. "True." She had never met her grandfather so she had no idea what he would do. All she knew was that he was the King of the Underworld and that he was trying to take over the world…again. She prayed that she, Dante, and Michael would find a way to stop him before he got too close to winning. She wouldn't know what they would be able to do, then. "Come on, let's just go."

The door led them to a white passage that cut off into a huge gap above the main room of the Manor. Michael placed his Hermes shoes into good use here as Dante and Ryona just jumped over. On the other side of the gap was another hallway that led them to a green door with another lion's face on it. Ryona paused for a moment, frowning as she thought about what was going to be waiting for them behind this door, and then hurried after the two men that hadn't waited for her.

They had arrived to a rest room but neither of them seemed to care about using it and so through the blue door they went. They found themselves outside again in another type of courtyard of the manor. With nowhere else to go, they moved towards the gateway before it was cut off from them.

"Oh dear," Ryona sighed, hanging her head.

"Well, we know what that means," Michael crossed his arms. "I wonder what it is."

"Our little friend." Dante replied, pointing. Both of them turned to face his direction to watch as their spider stalker climbed out from the manor behind them before jumping down.

The Phantom growled. "Recess time is over, kids!" His tail began to uncurl. "Here there's plenty of room to get real nasty."

"Honey," Ryona frowned. "You're already plenty of nasty for all of us, okay?" Her remark bounced off of the creature as Dante and Michael chuckled.

"This time there's no holding back." He stabbed his tail into the ground at Dante's feet.

"Finally!" the half-breed grinned. "I was getting tired of playing your childish games!"

The trio ran off in separate directions, much like the first time they had faced this foe, but this time the Spider seemed to be ready for their attacks. That and there was more room for him to jump and move out here than there had been in the cathedral they had been in. Michael pulled out Alastor and went to town on the spider' head as Dane pulled out Ebony and Ivory and fired rounds into the legs, leaving Ryona with the tail. She dodged out of the way a few times before an idea popped into her head. Gripping her blue sword in her hand, she concentrated for a moment before running forward and stabbing it into the tail. Ice spread out all over it, locking it into place just in time for Micheal to slam his fist down into the glass in the center of the courtyard. The spider was standing on top of it.

Michael's punch shattered the glass, sending Phantom spiraling below to where he was impaled by the huge spike that the statue of the knight was holding in the main room.

"Well, we won't have to be worrying about him anymore." Michael grinned, pleased with himself.

"You…you're not just any ordinary human." Phantom cried out. "What are you?"

"Ah, how could you guess?" Michael grinned. "I am-"

"No…the legendary Sparda…!? It can't be…"

"You're right," Dante grinned. "I'm his son, Dante." He blew the spider a kiss. "Sweet dreams."

Michael pulled a face and hung his head as Ryona laughed, patting a hand on his back. "Why? Why aren't I ever the important one?"

"It's all right, Michael. You'll meet someone who wants to kill you soon enough." She turned at the sound to find that the gate had been opened again. "Come on guys, let's go." She led the path. "I've got a feeling that we're getting closer and closer to the end of all this." She paused at the trident at her foot in this courtyard. She picked it up as he eyes landed on the hole in the ground between the two statues.

The hole led to a mechanism room. Michael turned to look around it as Dante and Ryona stared at the machine. There was a lever that Dante took ahold of and pushed it. The chains on the machine moved and it sounded like something had been lowered outside. Michael called up to them and told them that a doorway had been opened.

"Hey, I remember being in here," Dante glanced around the blue room. "I wonder if this gate is still locked." He moved over and pressed on it. "Yep."

Ryona looked at the face and took notice of the three holes again. Fingers crossed, she gripped the trident on her hand and shoved it in. Water began to flow out of the mouth, moving gears to where the gate was lifted. "Hah! What would you boys do without me?"

"Have a normal life?" Michael offered. Dante laughed as he got a boot to the rear. They hurried through the manor to the room below and made it just in time to slip under the gate before it closed all the way again.

"I hate all these damn puzzles," Michael growled. "Why can't we have just a normal, regular mission where we go through and beat the hell out of some monsters without all these damn mind bogglers?"

"Then it would be too easy." Dante answered him. He turned to the door and began to push it open. "Come on, let's go."

**Damn, another short chapter. They should pick up closer to the end though, don't you think?**

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	7. Chapter 6

**I HOLD NO CLAIM TO ANY OF THE ORIGINAL Devil May Cry CHARACTERS! NOTHING! :(**

_**Chapter Six**_

_**New Strength of the Canyon Mist**_

**Believe it or not, they were outside again. **It was a long drawbridge that, the moment they stepped off the end of it, lifted up, giving them no way back to the Manor just yet.

"Well, there's something we gotta do to get out of here," Micheal frowned. "Why isn't it ever easy?"

"To make you whine." Dante grinned, moving forward.

The man looked at the woman beside him. "How do you want that?"

Ryona smiled as she followed Dante. "How can you not?"

"Uh, I'm not gay." He replied. "That and you're just freakin' crazy. Sometimes I wonder who's worse; you or him." They moved past a short Obelisk and down a set of long, spiral stairs that led down into a Garden.

"Oh, thank god," Ryona sighed in relief. "I was fearing a coliseum just like last ti-ahh!" She had been walking forward as she spoke and a set of lizard-like warriors popped up out of the ground in front of her. Dante was quick in whipping out his guns and shooting them off. They ran back into the ground.

"Keep yourself ready for anything, Ryo. Mind open." Dante told her. She flushed as she stood, grumbling under her breath. Now was not the time for her not to be ready. This was a dangerous area and keeping her mind set was the best way to go. Now was time to set all playing aside. Dante and Michael still played around but she knew that they were also set on the task before them. How could they goof off together ad still be set? It pissed her off.

Dante led the way through the Garden this time. Ryona kept silent, thinking to herself about all the events as they followed the half-breed around. That Black Knight was on the top of her mind again, torturing her. She could swear that she had seen him before, been around him somewhere. She just couldn't place where. Maybe she could get him to talk to her next time they ran into him. Dante might not like it, but-

"What's on her mind?"

Dante looked over his shoulder at Michael's words to look at the woman behind them. He gave a small smile before turning back to the crest in front of him. He pulled out his sword. He remembered this device from Vergil's tower. "Her family is all involved in this. What else could be on her mind?"

"True," The man nodded his head. "But still, for her to be the granddaughter of Mundus…I still just can't see it. She's too…she's too sweet. Too kind."

"She also has never met her grandfather," Dante replied. "She was raised with Vergil and me, remember?"

"Yeah, and you see how your brother turned out, no offense." Michael told him, turning to look at the floating platforms.

"True, but Vergil was just…" Dante's voice fell and Michael closed his eyes for a moment, leaving the conversation there before speaking again.

"Floating Platforms?" Michael gave a snort. "Please, leave this to me, Dante."

The half-breed watched as the man stomped his Hermes Boots on the ground before floating off into the air. He turned to Ryona.

"Hey, get your head in the game, Ryo. We got stuff to do, remember?"

The woman pulled herself from her thoughts and then gave the man before her a small smile. "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, sweetheart, just make it up to me after we leave." Ryona's face went beet red and Dante laughed. "I was more referring to cooking something when we got back home but I would gladly take a trip to the bedroom as payment as well."

Ryona gave a swift kick at the half-breed as giggles escaped her mouth before being cut off by Michael's cries from above them. Both of them lifted their head to find Micheal being circled by two, separate balls of fire before they smashed onto his arms.

"I'M ON FIRE!" The man began to scream. "I'M ON FIRE! I'M…Okay?" Michael stopped screaming and landed on the ground beside the two of them again, looking at the gauntlets that had now encased his arms. He turned and glared at Dante. "Is this going to be just like that damn tower last time? We get new weapons for every bastard that we kill?"

"Are you, of all people, complaining about that?" Ryona asked him, placing a hand on her hip.

Michael glanced down at the new gauntlets for a moment before a large grin spread across his face. "No, I guess not. So, either of you have any idea on where to go next now?"

"Back through the gate, I suppose." Dante answered him. "Maybe you can use those things to break down one of the doors and get us through."

"With nothing else to go off, let's go with that."

On the other side of the gate, though, they were greeted by dark, red lightening raining down on them, bringing with it a huge, ugly-ass Griffon down from the sky.

"You!" It's deep voice rang out at them. "Are you two the humans, the son of Sparda and companions that challenges the Darkness Mundus while holding his granddaughter captive?"

"Captive?" Ryona shared a look with Michael. "Do I look captive?"

"Flock off, featherface. Or you can stick around and find out the hard way." Dante called up to it, beginning to bounce on his feet, getting ready for the fight that was bound to happen.

The bird decided to attack from a distance, dropping down some weird ass red balls on them.

Michael gave a huge grin as he glanced at the duo beside him. "You two stay right here, let me take care of bird brain."

Dante gave a frown as the man lifted off into the air on his shoes. "I need to get me a pair of those."

Ryona gave a laugh. I don't think that there's a second pair of those anywhere in the world, Dante. You're out of luck."

"Damn," the half-breed kicked at the ground as Michael tried out his new gauntlets on the Griffon. "Too bad."

"Fuck yeah!" Michael landed next to them with a grin about five minutes later. Griffon had run. "I am so badass."  
"Yeah, yeah," Ryona flapped a hand before walking away towards a set of doors that was behind a line of purple lights on the ground. "Let's just get this over with."

After Michael had open the doors with the gauntlets, the trio found themselves in a forest of some kind. There was a strange, evil feeling of this place and they kept close to eachother as more Marionette's decided to join them in the trees after Ryona's door-friend joined them again, locking them inside until all the wooden puppets were destroyed. Their path continued through a tunnel to a small outdoor are with headstones.

"I swear to God that if something dead spawns out of the ground-" Michael began. Ryona gave a small laugh until her eyes landed on the Sealed door before them.

"Why?" She hung her head. "Why me?"

"Just look at it this way," Michael grinned. "They must find you attractive."

"What?!" Ryona pulled a face. "Oh, do not say that!"

Dante apparently did not like it either and ending up bursting a hole in the door, ignore the red hand. "Let's go," He called to them, leading the way through. They both laughed before following him.

It was a canyon on the other side and it was just a creepy, straight path until they came to a podium that stood in between two paths. On the bottom of the podium, floated a small, white light.

"Valley of the Mist," Ryona read. "One must choose the right path to enter the lost land. Only those who protect the weak light shall have the power to decipher the right path.

"What does that mean?" Michael asked her.

"It's a riddle," Dante watched as the white light floated into the air and began to move down the left path. "It means that we follow the light and keep it safe until we get to the end of the path."

"Keep it safe?" Michael asked as the trio followed it. "From what?"

"From shit like that." Ryona replied, pointing ahead of them. More of those floating ghosts popped up as the light hid in another podium in the middle of the two paths, waiting for the trio to kill the enemy before continuing down the right path. It happened two more times, with different creatures, before they reached the final door. There were two Kyklops(mini-Phantoms) waiting on them here. Ryona was tired of the damn spiders and beat the hell out of them as fast as she could, relieving them of the problem. She gave a grunt.

"How much more of this are we going to have to take? I am getting pretty freakin' tired of this.'

"I know you are," Dante smiled at her. "But-"

"Hey, no crying coming from you young lady." Michael told her. "It's your family that's doing this so you're going to suffer just as much as the two of us, got it? If I got to deal with your grandfather then you do to." Ryona gave a sigh as Dante gave the other man a swift kick and a look. Michael gave a worried look and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, Ryona, I'm just annoyed with all this damn puzzle work as well."

"No, you're right. Mundus is my family, even if I've never met him before, so it is my problem."

Dante stared at the woman he loved, a small smile on his face. He loved her with all that he was. She was a sweet woman but could be strong, too. She was nervous on what she could do when it came to events like this, though. Events that pertained to her powers. She had lost control several times before and she feared doing it again.

She feared what would happen if she got closer to Mundus. Was he going to take control of powers? Could he? Mundus was the Prince of Darkness. What could she do to someone like that? Dante was safe with his powers since he was only a half-breed but her powers… something awful could be done if she lost control again, either by accident or by Mundus taking hold of her.

He remembered the first time that he had ever seen her lose control; only a few years before the events with Vergil and his tower. He had never been more scared in his life. He had to find a way to keep that from happening ever again.

"So, just what are you going to do about it then?"

"It had been a question to himself, but he had apparently said it aloud. Ryona gave him a look as a small smile spread across her lips. She turned to face the door.

"First, I'm gonna walk through that door. Then I'm gonna go find that bastard, and then I'm gonna kill him!"

Michael moved after the duo before pausing in his steps as they disappeared ahead of him. If Mundus was to die, then what would happen to the underworld? Was there someone there that could take up control or was it just like the King thing where his child took up the throne? And unless Mundus had had another child down there somewhere, Ryona was the only living relative left to the Prince of Darkness. He knew where that would fall. Without someone to rule, the entire place would fall apart and that could rip Earth apart as well, couldn't it? It was hard to think about, but he had to start thinking something up. He had to have a plan if something like that would happen after they took care of Mundus.

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	8. Chapter 7

**I HOLD NO CLAIM TO ANY OF THE ORIGINAL Devil May Cry CHARACTERS! NOTHING! :(**

_**Chapter Seven**_

_**Fate of the Ghost Ship**_

"**Let's start this off with a bang!"**

They were attacked by more of those monsters, Sins, and Micheal's new gauntlets took care of them right away and opened up a new path for them to take. The path was just jumping down the well in the middle of the area. Waiting for them below was more monsters; Blades. Ryona's ice attacks were easily the best moves to use on these creatures and they were able to proceed further into a circular room where they had to break through a cracked wall to continue on their path. More blades were there for them and the path led them to a rectangular greenhouse.

"We came all the way here for this?" Dante had moved forward to the pedestal and picked up a blue brain-looking rock. It was the Sign of Chastity.

"It appears so," Ryona nodded, hand on her hip. "But what do we need this for?"

"I don't know," Michael shook his head. "But like I said before, this puzzle-shit is starting to piss me off. I mean REALLY piss me off."

"Let's just go," The woman told the boys, leading them back the way they had come. More Blades showed up but they were ignored after being kicked aside. Finally reaching the path that they needed, they found themselves in an extremely strange room with a glowing, blue cup in the middle of it.

"Anyone else got an idea that this thing is for the brain?" Dante asked.

"What else could it be for?" Ryona asked, leaning forward to take a closer look.

"Try it and find out." Michael told them, crossing his arms.

Dante did, and they received a bronze cup as payment; just in time for slabs of rock to shoot up and lock them in the room.

"What the-" More of that blue electricity shot around the podium, catching them off guard.

Ryona, remembering where she had seen this before, turned in time to find that Dark Knight from before standing above them, looking down in silence.

"Him again, huh?" Dante growled as he placed himself in front of Ryona. "You two stay here. He's mine."

"Again, huh?" Michael teased. "Let's not have a repeat of last time, okay?"

"Wait, Dante," Ryona tried to say but he cut her off.

"Just stay here, Ryona." He told her.

"No!" She pushed forward past him. "Just wait a second!" She moved forward a few more steps before pausing and staring up at the Knight. "You. Do you have a name?" the Knight just stared at her.

"Ryona, what are you doing?" Michael asked her.

She waved a hand at the two behind her before continuing. "I know you, don't I? We've met before." That laugh of his gave her the answer she was looking for. "I knew it."

"What do you mean you've met before?" Dante asked, taking a step forward. "What are you talking about, Ryona?'

"How do I say this?" The woman sighed, glancing at the man in red. "Dante, I think…I'm not sure how it happened, but I think…no, I know…" She gave another sigh and hung her head. "You know what, let's just show you." She turned back to the Knight that still stared down at them. "Could you take off your helmet for us? Please?"

The Knight laughed again, tossing his head back for a moment before he lifted his right hand and wagged his index finger side to side again like he had the last time they met. That just confirmed her suspicions about who she thought this man was.

The Knight paused in his laughing and pulled out that huge blade of his again. At this, Dante ran past Ryona and engaged in battle. Ryona frowned, not sure what to do now. If she stopped this, would it be a good thing to do or a bad thing?

"Ryona," Michael's voice made her turn to the other man. "What's going on here? Who is this guy? How do you know him?"

"I think…I have a very good feeling that this is Vergil, Michael."

"Vergil?" Michael hadn't been expecting that. "You mean the guy from the tower?"

"Yes."

Michael remembered Vergil. Dante's older brother and the third piece to the romance triangle between Ryona and the twins. Vergil had been the problem years before with the tower when he tried to open up the portal to the demon world again and gain full demonic power. He had opened the doorway but Dante won and the man had been left behind. If he was here again, then there was only one reason.

"Do you think Mundus got ahold of him?"

"If this is Vergil that might just be the answer," She sighed and bowed her head. "No matter how much I don't want it to be."

At the roar before them, they watched as the Knight disappeared in his lightening much like he had before and Dante turned back to the with a furious frown on his face. He looked like he was going to say something to Ryona but glanced at Michael before turning away.

"I believe that you're in trouble, my dear." The man whispered to the woman as Dante began to leave them behind.

"After he figures it out as well, or I'm proven to be right, I think he'll return to normal." Ryona replied.

"Think? Or hope?"

She gave a nervous chuckle before they moved after Dante. He had already set the Chalice down and opened up the new path for them, shoving past as he didn't seem to want to talk to either of them.

"Why is he mad at me now?" Michael wondered.

"He's like that to everyone when he's pissed. Just let him blow some steam off. Let him kill all the upcoming monsters and he'll get over it pretty fast."

Michael took her for her words and let Dante take care of the Marionettes on the way down the long stairs before them. He had a bad feeling about them being sent this far down into the earth and gave a frown as they reached the banks of a small lake. A ship was there, waiting on them.

"Are you serious? We have to go swimming?"

"It appears so," Ryona sighed, letting go of her blade. "Who's first?"

"Stop being a wuss," Dante grunted, taking the first few steps into the water. "It can't be that hard."

Michael sighed Him and his man-jealousy. I thought you two were engaged."

"We are," she told him. "But both of us can still get jealous. Very jealous."

The ship was ruined, no doubt about that, and there were a few Blades laying in the water, waiting on them. The water was freezing and so all three of them hurried to find a way out of the water, Ryona finding it first. She sat there on the steps as the other two pulled themselves out.

"Why in the hell didn't any of us thinking about flying?" Michael asked, shivering as he tried to warm his skin up with his hands. "It would have been so much faster and easier!"

The woman pulled a face. "Yeah, why didn't we think about that?"

Dante flushed as he moved up the steps, knowing that the answer to that question was his fault in being annoyed with Ryona and the actions with the Knight.

On the next floor even more Blades were waiting for the shivering trio and Dante came across a Needlegun in a corner before heading up another set of stairs onto the top deck.

"What the hell are we here for?" Dante asked aloud, glancing up the mast.

"Who knows?" Michael shrugged as Ryona went for the Captain's door. It was strange, seeming as how there were a set of glowing, blue sword crossed across it.

"I am the ship that carries the wandering souls on the brink of the Underworld." She read from the door. "Protect the sip and you shall be given the Fire of Saint Elmo."

She reached out to touch one of them but yanked her hand back in time to miss the Scythe that reached out of the wall for her hand. A Death Scythe. She gave a growl before whipping her blade out and slicing the monster in half. She was in the process of letting out a victory 'hah' when the ship gave a lurch and knocked her off balance a bit. Turning, Ryona took notice of other blue lights lighting up the ship and the path as they began to trail down the cavern after going down a small little fall. Ryona heard a click and turned to see that the two swords had risen from their crossed form. She went to open the door but the voice caught her.

"How are we not going to hit rocks and sink to out death?" Michael called out from the side.

"Who knows?" Dante called back with a grin. "Just enjoy the ride!"

"'Just enjoy the ride', he says." Michael mumbled. "'I'll show him how to 'enjoy the ride'."

"Hey, Michael!" Dante called back to the other man again. "Your friend's back!"

"What friend?" the other man frowned.

"That one!" Ryona cried, lifting her finger.

Their bird friend had returned, apparently very pissed off with the previous events between him and Michael.

"Hey, Ryona, can I ask you to take care of this?" Michael asked her.

The woman raised her brow. "Take care of this?"

"Yeah. Not the slow way either. The fast way."

Ryona stared at him for a moment before what he was asking her made a small smile spread across her face. "Oh, you mean _that way?_"

"Yeah," Michael nodded with a smile, pleased she got his meaning. "That way."

"What way?" Dante asked them, clearly not getting their drift.

"Just watch, little man." The other man told the half-breed, crossing his arms with a smile. "Do it flashy, Ryona, and I'll buy you something really special after we're out of here! Something…jewel-i-fied."

"I'll hold you to that!" the woman cried to him as she jumped on top of the roof of the Captain's room.

Dante stared at her, unsure of just what it was she was going to do, and was caught off guard for just a moment at the surge of power that made him and the boat shake as a green surge of electricity enveloped her body. Ryona was pulling out her Devil Trigger.

The demonic form was quite humanoid, despite its face and its green, scale-like skin and not to mention the leathery wings that were not allowing her to flaot in the air. The red hair was still there, just wildly floating around the demonic woman as her black/blue jacket hung on her shoulders still. A matching tail could be seen waving around behind her.

"Hey baby!" Dante called up to her. "Lookin' good!"

His reply was a huge roar that made him and Michael slap hands over his ears, a large laugh coming out of his mouth as they watched what the full-breed woman did to the Griffon.

When the monster flew off yet again, Ryona dropped back down onto the ship, returning to her other form.

"Have I ever told you how much I love you?" Dante asked her, instantly pulling her into his arms to give her a kiss.

Ryona gave a giggle as she kissed him back. "Yes, but I don't mind hearing it again and again."

"Heh, not too bad, Ryona." Michael told his friend with a grin. "But I'm afraid that it wasn't flashy enough for me."

That put a damper on the woman's mood and she pulled from Dante with a frown. "Not flashy enough? I set the damn bird on fire!"

"Sorry. Not good enough for a reward from me."

Ryona pulled her leg back and kicked Michael in the crotch. The man fell to his knees, giving a moan as the mad woman huffed up the stairs to the Captain's Room, finally able to get through the door. Dante gave a laugh at the other man, patted him on the back, and then followed his woman through into the cabin.

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	9. Chapter 8

**I HOLD NO CLAIM TO ANY OF THE ORIGINAL Devil May Cry CHARACTERS! NOTHING! :(**

_**Chapter Eight**_

_**Abyss of the Darkness of the Towering Mountains**_

**The Captain's room was the average Captain's room; until you took notice of the skeleton that was sitting at the desk,**

"Well, that's not creepy at all," Michael commented, leaning down closer to get a better look.

Rolling her eyes, Ryona stepped further into the room to get a better look of her own; just at the statue that was holding the Staff of Hermes. "I remember this picture being on that bridge a while back," She commented as Dante moved up beside her. "Do you think that this is another key like before?"

Dante gave a shrug after a moment of thinking. "Can't hurt to take it with us, right? Might be our only chance TOO take it." She nodded in agreement and reached out for it. The moment it was removed, the ship gave a lurch…and water joined in, leaking from the grates. "Oops."

Michael lifted his head to glare at the duo. "I swear, the two of you have the illest of luck. This is the last damn time I'm going on a mission with you! Every time I do I end up almost dying!"

"Well, it's good that you can't die then, isn't it?" Ryona hissed at him. "So stop complaining and let's get the hell out of here!"

"I agree," Dante headed towards the door. "The ship is-" He paused and glanced back at the other two. "What do you mean he can't die?"

Michael raised a brow before glancing at the woman. "You mean you haven't told him yet?"

"Well, after the events with the tower you disappeared so I didn't think that I had to. It's not like it's a big deal or anything." She replied, her cheeks turning red.

"What are you, some kind of vampire or something?" Dante asked him.

"Oh, funny Mr. Demon. Let's see a vampire do half of the shit that I can. I don't burst into flame when sunlight touches me, (or sparkle like the new pansies are said too) so I'm not a pussy. I'm 100% invincible, baby!"

"So, then, what does that make you?"

"Shark bait," Ryona cried, shoving both of them to the door. "And that'll be all of us if you don't get the hell out of here soon!" She grabbed the door and tried to yank it open but gave a sigh as the water reached their knees. "And of course, the door doesn't want to work now. What do we do? Bust down the wall?"

"You and violence," Michael sighed, diving underwater and swimming away.

Dante watched as he swam through an open grate in the wall and gave Ryona a smile. "Ladies first."

More of those Blades creatures were waiting for them underwater but the Needle Gun that they had found made easy work of them. Michael wasn't able to make comments since they were underwater but the look on his face when he glanced at her when her 'hand' friend showed up for the umpteenth time today made her blood boil. Seriously, why was this damn hand following her?

Bursting out of the water and sucking in deep breaths of air, they found the ship wrecked on land and Ryona would have kissed the rock is Dante hadn't grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet beside him.

"You all right?"

"Of course," She smiled. "You don't need to be so worried all the time, Dante. I can take care of myself."

"But I like to be worried." He grinned at her, touching the tip of her nose with his. She gave a little giggle. The way his wet hair hung in his face made him appear more…appealing to her at the moment. Her insides were going crazy right now. If Michael wasn't there with them…

"All right, Lovebirds, you can take care of that crap later." The said man cut through the moment. "You know, when I'm not around."

Dante gave her another grin. "Later indeed." Ryona gave another giggle and let Dante grab her hand as he began to lead the trio on their next path. After taking care of the Marionettes in the corridor, they found a set of stairs that led them back the manor again, but it seemed to be a dungeon or a torture chamber like area. There were holes in the floor that Ryona was sure spikes would pop out of and there was a wall behind them with its own spikes. She could only imagine what was in the rest of the area that was on the other side of the hall across from them.

"Do we really want to go through this place?" Michael asked. He shoved a thumb over his finger. "I will gladly take a second crack at the ship, you know."

"Aww, thanks for volunteering in being first, Michael." Dante smiled.

"Wha-" He gave a cry as Dante kicked him into the path. "GOD, DON'T KILL ME!" Ryona sighed but gave a little chuckle. He might not be able to die but he sure did act like it. Michael turned and glared at the other man. "You jackass."

"Shall we?" Dante smiled, stepping out after him and entering the hall. Ryona gave his hand a tight squeeze.

At the end of the hall, after passing a barred room, there was another path of spikes. This time, in the wall, was a skeleton waiting for them, a shield in it's hands.

"_The resonating emblem shall undo the seal of the shield." _Michael gave a sigh. "This Mundus dude must have no life to set up all these damn tricks and emblems around this damn place. It's really starting to annoy me."

"I agree," Dante nodded, grabbing the shield and pulling it down. As he did though, a clinking sound began to go off as the floor began to move. "Shit."

"Ha!" Michael grinned as he dodged out of the way of a spike in the floor. "It wasn't me this time."

"Let's go!" Ryona told them, maneuvering out of the way herself.

The path was long to get back to the safe hallway and Michael gave out a slew of curses whenever he was stabbed in the foot by the spears in the floor. Dante gave a cures of his own now and then and even Ryona gave a hiss as her hand got caught.

"Remind me never to do that again." Dante grunted, wiping his blood off his cheek.

"Ditto that," Michael glance at the barred door from before. It was now open. "Shall we go up?" He grinned.

It was a tight fit, but the three of them stood on the platform together as were taken to the next floor. They now stood in a water-logged clearing surrounded by cliffs with a waterfall. Ryona would have stopped and admired the beauty of the place for a moment or two if she didn't want to hurry up and get out of here as fast as she could. Dante continued to led the way to the next area, him and Michael having a friendly chat about their favorite kind of pizza. Ryona listened to them, a smile on her face. She was happy that the two of them got along so well, even after these years since the events with Vergil and the Tower. Dante had matured over then and so had Michael, it seemed. Sure, they both had their same sense of humor, no doubt about that, but they both seemed more like men now than boys.

They came upon a cliff, revealing another set of Blades attacking them as the sun began to set. Michael's Hermes boots came into good help here since he didn't have to worry about falling off the cliff while fighting the monsters so things were taken care of quickly. There was only one trail in this area, and that was down, so they were all careful in doing just that; meaning Michael teased them about his ability to fly while they couldn't until Ryona threated to 'pull her wings out' AKA, transform and beat the shit out of him. That shut him up pretty quickly.

The next area was what appeared to be a ruined courtyard with more of their Marionette friends and so on.

"I swear to God that I'm going to kill this thing if it doesn't stop stalking me!" Ryona placed a hand on her hip as she glared at the Red Hand that sealed their next passage.

"I'm starting to agree with you," Michael grunted. "You're not that attractive to be stalked THIS much." He gave a cry when she whacked him in the head.

"I disagree," Dante smiled as he sliced the last puppet into smithereens.

"You would," Michael sighed as the red hand shattered.

"You should," The half-breed chuckled as the woman moved through the door.

"Please, I dig blondes, not redhead." The man informed them.

Ryona shot Dante a look. "Perhaps we should introduce him to Trish." She teased.

Dante gave a laugh. "Perhaps we should."

"Trish?" Michael looked interested now. "Pretty name. Do tell."

Ryona gave a laugh. "We'll let you see for yourself. I'm sure we'll run into her again soon."

"You mean she's here?" Michael came to a stop before the large set of doors.

"She's the one that came and asked us for our help here in the first place," Dante told him. He then rubbed the back of his neck. "If you call attacking us with a motorcycle 'asking'."

Michael stared at the other man for a moment before breaking out into laughter. "Oh, I just gotta hear this!"

Ryona turned and let the boys have their conversation, taking this moment for a break. She was starting to get hungry. They had been here for a while, after all. And all the fighting and walking was more than that night on Vergil's Tower.

Speaking of Vergil, was she right? Was that Knight they kept running into really Dante's brother? If he was, then Mundus must have done something to him. If he did, she wasn't going to hold back when they caught up to the villain. Grandfather or not, if he had done anything to Vergil, or does anything to Dante or Michael, she was going to get her revenge, no matter what.

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	10. Chapter 9

**I HOLD NO CLAIM TO ANY OF THE ORIGINAL Devil May Cry CHARACTERS! NOTHING! :(**

_**Chapter Nine**_

_**Wheel of Darkness**_

**A set of spiders decided to jump them again when they returned to the clearing they had fought Griffon in and then followed the 'convenient' lighted pathway to the hall on the other side. **The middle door was a set of knights but there was nothing that they could do about it. Deciding to go through the door to the right first, and giving more monsters to fight. Slicing through them was easy and down the set of stairs they traveled to a set of blue doors.

"Not these again!" Michael growled at the sight of the spiked wall and rotating floor.

"Well, at least they're not in the floor again." Ryona laughed.

There were a set of emblems on the wall that they had to hit to open up a set of planks to give them a path on the other side of the room. The said path led to a set of lances that were just waiting for them.

"The coliseum entrusts the conqueror with the lance. The time has come to open the door." Dante turned and glanced at Ryona. "Looks like you were right, babe. Back to the coliseum."

"Don't tell her she was right," Michael hissed. "Then she'll always want to hear it."

Ryona rolled her eyes and shoved the other man back out onto the rotating floor. She gave a grin as Michael let out a curse a few moments later. "Let's grab them and go." She told the other man. With a nod, Dante grabbed the lances and the two paths were lifted and caged off, leaving Dante and Ryona nowhere else to go but down. More of their lizard friends were waiting on them but they were easy and they quickly joined Michael again. Hurrying back up the stairs and out into the courtyard, a pair of Sin Scythes decided to show up again before they headed to the next door; this time is was a blue shield.

Heading down the stairs to the set of monsters to defeat and another set of blue doors for them to go through. Again there was the moving floor, the spikes, and more Sin Scythes to keep them company as they tried not to get impaled. It was basically a repeat of the other room, but no emblems to hit. Instead there was a pit of a dangerous, purple smoke that none of them wanted to take a step in. Michael ended up using his Hermes boots to grab a weapon called the Nightmare-beta.

"What the hell do I want this for?" Michael growled at it as he rejoined the two of them. "Here, you can have it. It's formed in your home world anyway."

Ryona gave a hiss as he tossed the black object at her. "Just because I was born there doesn't mean that it's my home."

"Let's not argue, you two," Dante smiled. "We're almost through this so let's just get it done."

"I agree." Michael nodded.

Ryona followed after the two men, looking at the Nightmare-Beta. It was a gun, no doubt about that. She didn't really use guns but this interested her so she decided to keep it. Hopefully it would do some serious damage to Mundus.

Dante walked up to the door with the knights on it and began to read. "The shields that glow with the light and a pair of lances shall lead them to the battleground."

Ryona and Michael moved forward with the set of lances they had found and the door opened to let them through. It was a coliseum waiting for them, with nothing but a let of large, blue circles in the middle of the area.

"You know, I bet something bad is going to happen if we step onto that," Michael commented, staring at the blue circle.

"Most likely," Dante nodded. "But that's what we're here for, right? So," He clapped his hands together. "Who wants to go first?"

Ryona gave a sigh as the two boys stared at her. "Chickens," She grunted, stepping forward. The moment she stepped into the middle of the blue circle, she heard a voice in her head calling for a sacrifice to make a path to the Wheel of Destiny. "A sacrifice?" She asked herself. "But what would I…" Her voice was cut off by the sight of the red electricity in the sky and the arrival of the Griffon for a third time. "That answers that." She turned to the boys behind her. "Dante! Michael and I have already fought this thing once. It's your turn this time!"

"What?" Michael growled. "But you're the one to step onto the circle."

"Hey, I don't mind," Dante gave a grin as he placed a hand on his sword. "Any bird who tries to hurt my woman will gladly be taken care of by me."

Michael hid a smile. You could tell that Dante and Ryona cared for one another very much. He was glad to see that nothing bad had happened between the two of them after the events with Vergil and his tower. He just prayed that they would stay the same after this event too.

Dante's moves eventually sent Griffon to the ground and from the damage done to his wing, he couldn't fly anymore. Ryona felt a little sorry for that happening so she had to turn her head from the fight. Until the bird gave a huge screech. Turning back in time to see a large pillar crushing Griffon to the blue circle, she gave a wince and pulled a frown. The bird lifted his head to look at Dante and the others.

"Yours are definitely the powers of Sparda. No, even more so. But I cannot let you live, for I serve my master, Mundus, and have promised him the retrieval of his granddaughter from her captors."

"Look, I'm not being held prisoner," Ryona placed a hand on her hip. "And you can't fight with how badly wounded you are!"

"Mighty is the power of Mundus!" Griffon called out. "Master! Please grant me one last surge of power…the power to finish him!" His answer was three large red balls in the sky above them. "Master…Mundus…"

"Griffon, you have failed me," At the deep voice, Ryona felt her blood run cold. That voice…that was the voice that she had heard all those years ago when she, Dante, and Vergil were on the tips of the underworld. That was the voice that had been talking to her with the two brothers fought. "You are no longer worthy."

"No!" Michael cried out but the strike from Mundus had struck the bird, ending his life. His cries of pain echoed through the coliseum and Ryona turned her head, burying it in Dante's shoulder. Dante glared as the sick laughter began and placed a tight arm around the woman's back as Mundus disappeared.

"You beat him," They all turned to find that Trish had joined them again. "Maybe it was too easy for you."

"Hello mama," Michael grinned, his eyes bulging out of his head.  
"Mundus," Dante growled. "His heinous ways make me sick. Even killing his own like they were nothing." ~He wouldn't…do the same to Ryona, would he? Maybe he would…~ "He's the one who took the life of my mother, and my brother, I'm sure of it. My mother use to always tell me that my father was a man who fought for peace. He had courage and a righteous heart." He gave Ryona a squeeze. "In the name of my father, I will kill Mundus."

Trish gave him another look before disappearing in a bolt of yellow lightening. Michael made a comment about wanting to follow her, but the other two ignored him. The pillar that had impaled Griffon had turned into an elevator-like object. It took them to a small chamber. The statue of a skeleton held the Wheel of Destiny in its hands.

_The King of Avalon shall turn the Wheel of Destiny and take the story to the beginning land._

"What does that mean?" Michael asked with a frown.

"I'm not quite sure," Ryona shook her head as she took the wheel, but I'm sure that we'll find out soon enough."

There was nothing left to see in the Coliseum so they just left the way they came. Killing off some more Death Scythes, they followed the lighted path back to the entry door. They followed the spiral staircase to the drawbridge. The bridge was lifted, though, and wasn't able to be used.

"You would think that they would learn that these tricks don't work on us." Michael crossed his arms.

"Ryona," Dante turned to the woman from the glowing circle he knelt in front of. "Let me see that Wheel your grabbed."

The wheel lowered the bridge again, giving them passage back to the castle. The night had fallen, encasing the castle in an eerie darkness. Ryona had no problem in seeing in the dark but Dante and Michael did, resulting in Michael pulling out a flashlight of his to light the way. The three of them separated for a moment and only reunited after Dante had struck the device on the wall and a blue strand of lightening turned the knight statue before the stairs into a large, electrical bat.

"A giant bat in a creepy castle so far from any other human-place in the world? Stoker would be pissed." Michael grunted as he dodged a few plasma attacks from the bat.

Once it was dead, they headed through the blue doors to the airplane hangar again and then through the red ones to encounter yet another trio of bats that had been waiting on them. In killing them, they traveled through another set of red doors to kills some Marionettes and Fetishes here. The trio made their way down the hall to the Cathedral, where they had fought the spider, just to find an ominous puddle of some sort of black substance in the middle of the floor.

"What do you think this is?" Ryona asked, poking at the liquid with her sword. She gave a cry and jumped back when a large, disgusting creature squirted out, the bones of warriors scattered all through it.

"Oh, that's just nasty." Dante frowned.

"It's…it's a NIGHTMARE!" Michael gave his pun as he used his boots to fly.

It was soon found out that the Nightmare was invulnerable to attacks when the lights were off and there was a core shone when illuminated. Ryona kept to keeping the lights in the room on by hitting the emblems on the wall while the two men kept to attacking the core when shown. If they had been on their own while fighting this creature, it would have been much, much harder.

When the monster was defeated, they exited out onto the broken bridge. Hopping across the broken pieces, they returned to the column that held Hermes' mark.

"I got this," Michael smiled, moving forward as he pulled out Hermes' staff. Two images appeared before them. One was of the Gatekeeper's room, the other of a bedroom.

"Which one do we go through?" Dante asked, his head tilted to the side.

Ryona glanced between the images for a moment before a large smile spread across her face. "Eenie-meenie-mini-moe-and this is the path I choose to go." Without another word, Ryona hopped through the image of the Gatekeeper's room.

Michael and Dante watched after her for a moment before Michael shook his head. "Sometimes, I wonder if that woman is completely sane."

"What do you mean?" Dante asked him.

"Well, no offense, but she seems loony to me at some points in time. She was much more serious when I first met her. Maybe she's finally cracked…or maybe it's your doing, Dante." Michael then shrugged and moved towards the image himself. "Who knows?"

Dante watched as the other man disappeared before shaking his head. "I swear, I'm going to find out just how the two of them met even if it kills me!"

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	11. Chapter 10

**I HOLD NO CLAIM TO ANY OF THE ORIGINAL Devil May Cry CHARACTERS! NOTHING! :(**

_**Chapter Ten**_

_**Parted Memento and the Spirit Stone Elixir**_

**There was nothing to really do in the guard's room they the trio moved up the spiral staircase. **At the top was a mirror that triggered into another portal for them to walk through to come face to face with a yellow door. Before they could pass through, though, they were introduced to Frosts. Michael used Ifrit to take care of the ice creatures quickly and finally through the door they went. Thrashing through the Marionettes and the Fetishes there, they moved up the hallway. They moved through another door at the end of the hall and found themselves face to face with a dinosaur skeleton that belches fireballs.

"Where does this bastard keep getting this shit?" Michael demanded as he dove out of the way.

"When we find him, I'll let you ask!" Ryona replied, using her sword to hack the fireball back at the skeleton. She had to do it several times, but the creature finally crumbled away and a mirror rose from the floor of the room.

Dante gripped his chin as he glanced around the room. "Michael, grab ahold of that crank."

"But why?"

"I think we have to reflect the light off of the mirrors to open the next passage."

Ryona glanced around the room herself. "That seems to be the idea. What other reason would all these mirrors be here for?"

"I don't know. Maybe your grandfather likes to look at himself from all angles?" Michael told them as he grabbed the crank and rotated it. It took about five minutes before they set the mirrors up right and received the Quicksilver. "We went through all of that just for this?"

"Well, after all that we've been through, you would think that you would be used to stupidity tasks like this." Ryona teased her friend.

"Yeah, I know, but seriously? Why can't they just say 'here, take this for the next path' every once in a while?"

Dante gave a smirk as he turned to leave the room again. "'Cause where would the fun be in that?"

"Where would the fun be in that," Michael mocked Dante after the door shut again. "Your boyfriend pisses me off sometimes, you know that?"

Ryona gave a laugh. "Dante can piss anyone off, Michael. It's just his nature."

"Yeah, and a nature that you're attracted to!"

"Yes, indeed I am." She giggled again as she moved out the door.

Michael gave an exasperated sigh and followed after her.

Moving back down the hall and killed the Marionettes that decided to come back again, the trio used the Quicksilver on the next door to gain passage to the next room; it seemed to be some sort of throne room.

"Hey, Dante," Michael grinned, glancing at the window. "Your friend's back."

Nero Angelo turned to face them, pulling his sword out.

Dante let out a grin. "A man with guts and honor. I like that! But it's a shame you serve Mundus." The Knight gave off a few moves before shoving his sword in the ground and shooting out some of his power.

"I knew it!" Ryona cried, taking a step forward as the power brushed over them all. "It is him!"

"Then your grandfather got ahold of him after the doors were shut," Michael told her with a frown.

"Who are you talking about?!" Dante demanded.

"Turn around and you'll get your answer." Michael told him.

The Knight had lost his helmet, revealing a bluish skin, combed back silver hair, and a set of red eyes. Dante's mouth fell open but before they could say anything the Knight rushed forward to attack. Ryona went to help Dante but Michael held her back again.

"I have to help him, Michael!"

"Ryona, this is just like last time! If Dante wanted to be the one to take care of his brother then do you think that his mind would change? He wants it to rest on his shoulders, not yours."

"But, but if my grandfather is the one that did this to him, then I…"

"I know how you feel, believe me," Michael told her. "But…there's nothing that you can do now, Ryona, nothing. Just wait."

"I know, but…"

Screams grabbed their attention. The Knight began to float in the air, holding his head as he gave off huge screams before he disappeared, leaving just that amulet to fall down to Dante's feet.

"Vergil!" Ryona cried out. Pain riddled through her, her head pounding. She felt her Devil Trigger wanting to break free but she fought it off, just holding her face in her hands.

_Trish, Vergil has been defeated. You know what you must do. Now go!_

The voice struck hard. It was Mundus again…and he was talking to Trish? ~What the…~

A hand clapped to her shoulder and Ryona jumped, glancing back at Dante. He gave her a small smile and squeezed her shoulder. Standing up, she glanced at the amulet that he still held in his hands.

"Together again, right?" she asked with a sad smile.

"Yeah," He moved to place the amulet over her head but she caught his hands, shaking her head.

"No, this is yours." She smiled as she hooked it to his own amulet, making the last piece he had of his mother whole again. "Besides, entry to the underworld, remember?" She gave a half-hearted chuckle.

Dante gave his own and placed a kiss on her forehead. "When this is over, though, you're getting half of it. I know that you'll be able to protect it."

"We'll protect it." She told him.

Michael watched the exchange with a soft smile before turning away as Force Edge turned into another sword; the sword that Dante's father had used. As a collector, he would have loved to have that blade but he knew that he would never get it, so why even bother? Besides, that was Dante's blade. He couldn't just take it from him; yet.

A portal had opened up in the middle of the floor. Dante, still holding Ryona's hand, stepped on the platform and led the way back to the Watchman's room where they jumped through the other mirror.

They were immediately thrown into an underwater prison. Riddled with barrels, the trio swam through a hole in the wall through a few more cells. Sin Scissors decided to join them in their swim and they were finally free of the water then they swam through the door between the horse reliefs.

"I hate swimming." Michael growled as he made the way to the door with the lion face. At the sight of the emblem on the wall, he ran forward and swung at it, filling the room with water again. Ryona gave an inside laugh at the fit that Michael was throwing while floating up in the water. Dante wore a huge smile on his face as he led the way to the Philosopher's egg just in time for the water to recede away again.

Choosing the wooden door to walk through, Michael led them into a courtyard that reminded Ryona of where they had first run into Shadow, just no fountain there. But there were a certain set of strange colored pools of liquid there.

"Uh-oh," Ryona sighed. "I think I know what this means." Glancing at the mantel that held the flames in the alcove. "When you set the Philosopher's Egg in there, our Nightmare-friend is going to come back."

"If that's so, want to stick to the same battle tactic?" Michael asked.

"Fine by me," Dante smiled as he held the egg over the fire. "Ready?"

"Yep."

"Ready."

Ryona had been right. The moment that the egg touched the flames, Nightmare squirted out of the liquid yet again. Now ready for the monster to attack, Ryona lit the area again with the emblems, dodging the attacks fired at her, as Dante and Michael worked together to destroy the core. With Dante's new sword the creature seemed to go down even faster than it had last time. Dante pulled out some bragging rights that made Michael curse at him and threaten to steal the new blade but Ryona knew that he was just teasing.

"I am the first key to opening the gate of the Underworld." The voice grabbed their attention.

"I guess that means the Egg is done." Dante grinned. Reaching into the pot, he pulled out the crystalized Elixir.

"We went through all of that for just this?!" Michael asked. "What the fuck?!"

"Like we've said before, Michael," Ryona told her friend. "All just to make you mad."

"Ah-ha, ah-ha, shove it." He crossed his arms. He then watched as the black portal appeared in the middle of the area. "After this is all over, I'm never meeting up with the two of you again. The next time I see you, I'm so turning and moving the other way."

Dante gave a laugh. "Good. Besides, after all this is over I don't think the two of us are going to be seen outside our house for a long, long time." He gave the woman beside him a wink.

"Good lord, I don't want to hear anything about what you and your girlfriend do, Dante."

"Are you sure, because when we get really frisky, I take her and-" Dante's words burst into laughter as Michael ran for the portal and disappeared before he could hear more.

"Dante, you're horrible." Ryona was laughing herself. "Our private life is supposed to be just that; private!"

"I know, but where's the fun in that?" Dante grinned. "I didn't want to stand here and listen to him complain about running into us all the time." He moved towards the portal himself. "And the next time we do run into him during a mission I WILL give him a sight between us that he will NEVER be able to forget."

Ryona hung her head with a sigh as Dante disappeared through the portal. With a small smile, she followed. "I will never be able to understand men, will I?"

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	12. Chapter 11

**I HOLD NO CLAIM TO ANY OF THE ORIGINAL Devil May Cry CHARACTERS! NOTHING! :(**

_**Chapter Eleven**_

_**Enter the Corrupted Nightmare Showdown**_

**The portal placed them back in the guard's room. **There was nothing to do but hurry down the spiral staircase and arrive at another red and black portal that took them back to the Broken Bridge. The moment Dante took through, the Elixir he held began to respond strongly to the other painting there. Ryona smiled as they ended up in her mother's bedroom again, that painting still there on the wall. Sadly, though, all of the doors had disappeared so only the mirror was used to go outside to a courtyard. The three of them found the Philosopher's Stone in the pedestal in the bottom floor and the moment they grabbed it they were introduced to the Nobody, a creepy, skinless, ape-like demon that can grow in size with the help of a magic mask. The creatures were fast and powerful so the trio had to stay on the move as they fought them. The shotgun gave in hands, as did Ifrit.

"I hate these damn things." Ryona sighed as they entered the bedroom again.

"Be glad that it's still not the angel-like creatures like we had at the tower last time." Dante told her.

She gave a shiver. "Don't remind me that."

"I've a question for you guys," Michael began as he moved towards the Broken Bridge again.

"And what is that?" Dante followed him.

"That woman, Trish brought you here to help her take care of this guy, right? Where the hell is she now? Shouldn't she be helping you? You know, working with you?"

Ryona paused for a moment on part of the bridge; she almost got dragged in the water. "You know, I'm not sure. I have no idea what she's doing, do we?" ~But, if what I heard was correct…~

Dante shrugged as he opened the door to the Cathedral. "I'm sure that we'll run into her soon again. After all, this is all almost over."

Ryona gave another frown as she followed him. She was still thinking over what she had heard Mundus say when Dante had fought Vergil. Was Trish truly on Mundus' side, or was she just hearing things that didn't make sense? It was all confusing.

Back in the Cathedral, the pool of darkness decided to react to the Elixir again.

"What do you think?" Michael asked. "Is it going to be like the mirror?"

"I think so," Ryona rubbed her chin. "But I'm sure we're going to run into some serious problems. This is where the end might start."

Dante gave a grin and stepped forward onto the pool. "Why not? I'm getting hungry and tired. Let's get this over with."

The pool dropped them into the mirror-world of the Cathedral. There was a yellow decoration on the floor before them that needed the Philosopher's stone.

"Looks like the opening to the Underworld," Dante commented, tossing the Stone up and down in his hands. "Are you guys ready for it?"

"Let's get this over with," Michael placed his fists together with a grin. "I have plans in the future to hurry up and get to."

"The faster we get this over with, the faster we get back home." Ryona replied. "Let's go, Dante."

The half-breed gave a grin and placed the Stone in the hole. The cloud's disappeared, leaving a broken glass dome behind, leading the way to the Underworld.

Michael wore a frown. "This place is creepy…it looks like a digestive tract of something. Makes me think of that Leviathan creature that we had to go through last time, remember?"

Dante gave a nod. "Yeah, I remember. Where Ryona let her Devil Trigger go, right?"

"That's the one. Maybe it would be easier for her to do it again and get this down with," The man looked at the other woman as they moved through the red area.

Ryona frowned, trying not to take in the smell of the area. "As happily as I would like to hurry up and get out of here, I cannot transform all the time."

"Why not? I understand Dante can't because he's a half-breed, but you're a full demon."

"I know that, but I never really…" She paused for a moment, trying to find a correct way to explain it all. "I don't have full control over my powers because I didn't have anyone to help me train in it. I can use it for a few minutes but I've never gone further than ten minutes. Last time I did…"

Michael nodded. "I guess that's understandable. Just save up your power and use it against Mundus, got it?"

"Not a problem, there." She nodded.

Red filmy membrane was used to block their way through a few places. Dante had to hit it with his sword to open it up and Ryona gave a shiver as she passed through it. The next room held a pair of Frosts for them to take care of and there was another membrane at the far end. One the other side this time, something dangerous was waiting on them.

"What the-" Michael watched as the strange, red symbols lit up around the ceiling.

"Dante!" They all glanced forward to find Trish on the floor, calling for their help.

"Trish!" Dante went to run forward but he was walled in on all sides and confronted by a familiar puddle of goo. "Not this again. Ryona!"

"On it!" the woman called back as Nightmare came together before them. It looked like it was a little larger than last time and the three of them were locked inside the area with the creature. Using the same tactics that they had before, Ryona kept the light going as Michael and Dante killed the creature. When it was close, though, Ryona gave in a few moves of her own.

"AHHHH!" Dante's cry caught their attention. Ryona whirled around to find that he was hit by yellow electricity.

Trish gave a laugh at them from the other side of the barrier. "You fool! You're so easy!"

"Trish, you?!" Dante sounded surprised.

"Son of a bitch," Ryona growled.

"I should have known." Michael hissed.

"Humans," Trish shook her head with a laugh. "What sweets. You should know better than to trust a stranger. Your presence has become a problem to my master's bloody scheme. Now die!"

Dante dodged out of another of her electric attacks. "Dammit."

"Just ignore her for now, Dante," Michael told the other man. "Let's kill this thing first before we deal with her."

~I was right~ Ryona growled at herself. ~I had heard that she was on Mundus' side. I should have done something about it he moment I saw her again! Or I should have told the boys.~ But then again, hearing Mundus as he talked would have made her seem crazy. It might have made a problem…

It didn't matter now. She couldn't change it now that Trish had proven that she was on Mundus' side. Now they had to kill Nightmare and then they would deal with Trish and Mundus next. And boy, did she have a plan to deal with her dear grandpa.

The moment Nightmare finally left, a final laser shot across the room, making everyone dodge. Ryona straightened back up and turned to face the other woman in the room.

"Now,"

Trish lifted her hands, ready for an attack, but the large pillar beside her fell, getting ready to smoosh her to the ground. Dante and Michael both moved together, knocking the woman out of the way. Ryona shook her head as Michael struck a pose, fighting a laugh at the time like this.

"Dante, you all right?" Ryona called to him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," He answered, patting dirt and dust off of his clothes as he stood up.

Trish stared up at the three of them, confusion clear on her face. "Why?" She asked as they moved towards the next door. "Why did you save my life?"

"Me?" Michael answered her first. "I don't like watching women get hurt."

"That's because you want to sleep with them." Ryona frowned at him. Michael gave a grunt, crossing his arms.

Dante turned back and glared at Trish for a moment before glancing back at the wall. "Because you look like my mother. Now get out of my sight. The next time we meet, it won't be like this." He moved forward to join Ryona and Michael at the door. Trish followed after him, calling his name, but he turned to face her with a glare and growl with Ebony in his hand. "Don't come any closer, you devil! You may look like my mother, but you're nowhere close to her! You have no soul! You have her face but you'll never have her fire!" He pulled his gun away and stepped after the others, leading the way to the next area.

_You too have failed me, Trish. You know the rules._

Ryona froze on the other side of the door as Mundus' voice hit her. That could only mean one thing. The woman they had just left behind had been…

"Grandpa's not too happy with us, I'm afraid," She decided to tell the others.

"Good," Dante growled. "Let's hurry up and get this over with."

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	13. Chapter 12

**I HOLD NO CLAIM TO ANY OF THE ORIGINAL Devil May Cry CHARACTERS! NOTHING! :(**

_**Chapter Twelve**_

_**Living Battle, Mother's Guide**_

**After the events with Trish, Dante was left in an enraged mood and relieved his anger on the monsters that traveled around the area they were passing through. **He moved quickly before Michael and Ryona could even think about it, leading the way through in silence.

"Keep in mind not to seriously piss your boyfriend off," Michael commented as Dante's guns wet off ahead of them through the tentacles.

"You got that right," Ryona agreed. "I hope I never piss him off that bad." She did feel responsible, though. Maybe if she had given out a warning of what Mundus had said about Trish then Dante would have been ready for the other woman's attack, but there was nothing that she could do about it now.

The area held monsters that they had endured all through the Mansion all night from Nobody's to the Marionettes, and there was an area that even held Lava in it that they had to be careful around. In that area they had to hit several emblems to get through to the next door; though Michael only had to watch due to his Hermes boots. In the room after that, the emblem they came across began to beat the heart in the floor beneath them, opening the next door that they needed.

Ryona went to lead the way through the door but paused as she stared at it instead. Dante moved up beside her. "You all right?"

"I…I'm not too sure," She answered truthfully. "I know that I've never met him before, but I feel responsible for his actions…"

"Why do you say that?" Michael asked.

"Mundus is…he's my family. Of course I feel responsible, you know?"

"You shouldn't," Dante told her. "I don't blame you or hold you responsible. Just because you're related doesn't mean that it's your fault. I won't hold it against you, and neither will Michael."

"He's right, you know," Michael grinned.

"We don't know what he can do," Ryona argued with them. "He's the Prince of the Underworld, remember? Because I'm related to him, can he get control over me? Oh, it's all confusing and makes me full of worry and, and…"

"Stop worrying about it, Ryona," Michael told his friend, giving her a firm pat on her shoulder. "If Mundus, somehow, takes control of you, I'll make sure to knock your senses back to normal and then help Dante finish beating the hell out of him, got it?"

Ryona gave a chuckle and then glanced at Dante as she grabbed her head.

"He's right. Don't worry about anything. I'll make sure that nothing bad happens to you. I promise." Ryona gave a nod and squeezed his hand. "Come on, let's go."

The room was bright and clean and certainly didn't look evil. Ryona felt like they were in a church, actually, but there was no doubt in her mind that the look was deceiving. They paused in front of Mundus' large statue. He seemed to be waiting on them.

"_Again, I must face a Sparda…Strange fate. Isn't it? I must thank you for bringing my granddaughter with you, though."_

"Strange and ironic that it will end the same way," Dante growled, his grip firm on Ryona's hand. "And I didn't bring her here to give to you. She joined me to stop you!"

Mundus gave out a laugh. _"Is that so? Irony has favored you this time. Look, there,"_

The three of them turned to find that Trish was captured. "Dammit," Michael sighed. "What is up with your enemies liking to use women, huh Dante?" Lady had gone through something just like this the last time they had run into a villain like this.

"I don't know," Ryona shrugged. "Maybe it just happens."

"Bullshit. Your boyfriend is Cursed, Ryona. Or maybe you, considering who your family is." He glanced back at the statue for a moment.

"_Blink, she dies."_

"Aw man, then she's screwed," Ryona glanced at her Grandfather. She gave a hiss as three red spikes rammed into her body.

"Ryona!" Dante cried as she fell to her knees.

"What the hell, dude?!" Michael growled. "I thought you were trying to kidnap her, not trying to kill her!"

"_Discipline comes in many forms."_

"You bastard!" Dante growled. "I'm gonna kill you!"

"_Fool! So sad that humans will always be humans, no more." _His third eye began to glow in a bright, white light. _"Has the Sparda blood been spoiled over the ages? No die!"_

The light went to hit them, but Dante grabbed Ryona and moved out of the way in time for Trish to jump off of the wall and push Michael out as well, taking the blow.

"Well that's…not good." Ryona hissed, grabbing the first spike and pulling it out. Dante watched as her blood dripped off of it but the wound quickly began to heal.

"You all right?" Dante asked her as Michael knelt over Trish.

"Of course I am," Ryona told him as she ripped out the second one; her hiss was louder this time. "So let's hurry up and kill this guy!"

"_Useless scum…" _Mundus hissed at Trish. _"Failure is one thing but taking an odd behavior like that…What is the matter?" _ The area began to shake as Dante stood to his feet again, his anger rising. _"It is time to end your pitiful life now!"_

He fired at the half-breed again but Dante's demonic power burst out, knocking it away.

"How much longer are you going to keep hiding?" Dante growled. "Come out and show yourself, Mundus!"

As an answer, the room began to shake, crumbling away as the statue fell apart, leaving behind the large creature with wings. With that, the building disappeared, Trish as well, leaving the trio facing Mundus in an area that looked like space.

"_Those eyes…deep in them I see the same light as in Sparda's eyes."_

"Why my mother?" Dante asked, referring to Trish.

"_That useless being? If you need a mother I can create it as many as you want. Just like I created Trish."_

"What about my mother!?" Ryona cried out at him. "What did you do to your daughter!?"

"_Aowin betrayed me!" _Mundus' voice was full of anger. _"The moment that Sparda moved to try and defeat me she helped him. If she hadn't of passed you on to Dante then you would be left behind with me! But now-"_

"Silence!" Dante growled. "I don't care what you think! Ryona's not going anywhere! She's with me, not you!"

As an answer, Mundus gave a roar and jumped away from them,. Dante followed, transforming into his Devil Trigger. Ryona glanced at Michael.

"There's not very much that I can do," Michael told her. "I'll have to wait until I can move in closer. Until then, you and Dante have to move forward and deal with Mundus. You'll have to first to take care of the first battle."

"Yeah," Ryona sounded nervous.

"Don't worry, Ryona. You'll be fine. Now hurry up and help your boyfriend."

Ryona gave a nod before jumping up next to Dante. Her Devil Trigger attacked, giving her ability to hit Mundus' body with Dante's help right beside her. Not too soon after that, Mundus hit them with a large attack of fire, knocking the two demons from the sky. Michael moved quickly in time to catch Ryona as they landed on the rocks floating on Lava.

"You two all right?" Michael asked as he set Ryona down on her feet.

"Just fine," the woman replied, grabbing her two swords. "Next question?"

Michael came into a huge help here with his ability to fly due to Hermes' boots. Mundus could only be hit from a distance and so Ryona had to grab the one guns she had grabbed during the night; the Nightmare. Dante had his own guns to attack with, blocking Michael a bit as he could as he moved forward to hit Mundus' orb. It's a good think that Michael was immortal.

Mundus' attacks ranged from Fireballs and Beams to a Dragon from the Lava and then Lava Pillars. Ryona gave a growl here and there when the Dragon decided to attack her, but the Nightmare gun sent the dragon flying back down into the Lava.

"Ryona!" Michael's cry grabbed her attention and she turned in time to see that Michael was stuck on one of the rock pillars, his left foot cut off. The other part of his foot, with the Hermes boot, was in his hand as his foot decided to grow back. It would take a while though and Michael was close to Mundus. The Prince of Darkness had set his sight on the footless man.

"Like hell you do!" Ryona moved quickly, her transformation taking place as she took her swords and slashed across Mundus' face when he went to attack Michael again.

Mundus let out a huge growl as he held his face, his wings fading away as he tried to pull himself out of the lava.

Ryona wasn't sure what happened next but they somehow found themselves standing back in the white room again, Trish's body still lying there. All three of them moved towards the body.

"Though she's a bad guy, I still feel bad for her getting hurt," Ryona sighed as Michael picked the body up. "Is she going to be okay?" She gave her shoulders a roll as she faded back into her human body.

"I'm not sure," Michael closed his eyes. "It's easy for you to survive Mundus' attacks but for her…"

"My mother risked her life for me," Dante sighed. "And now you too. I should have saved you."

"You're not the only one, Dante," Michael told the other man. "You saved your woman and that's all you could do. I…I should have been the one to save her. I should have…"

Their talking was cut off by a huge rumbling. Ryona gave a sigh. "I should have known. The Mansion is falling!"

"You two go ahead and get out of here," Michael told him. "I still have something to grab before I can leave."

"What?!" Ryona sounded shocked. "That's a horrible idea, Michael! It's too dangerous. We have to go."

"I'm pleased over your worry, but you don't need it," Michael grinned at her. "I'm immortal, remember? Don't worry about me, I'll join you guys soon, I promise."

"He's not going to listen to you, Ryona," Dante grabbed her hand. "So let's go." Dante dragged her after him back into the path to get out of the underworld, leaving Michael with Trish's body.

"But Dante, I…"

"Don't worry about him. Michael's smart and fast. He'll get out of here just like we will!" Dante assured her. "But we have to find our own way out now, understand?"

"Well, I remember that there was that airplane up in the mansion, remember?" Ryona commented. "Maybe we can get that too work."

"Yeah, that might actually be a good idea."

Clearing a quick path through the monsters that attacked them, the duo got back to the regular Cathedral and ignored the Marionettes and the other monsters in the Mansion as they hurried through the halls and stepped into the airplane hangar.

"Here it is!" Ryona went to run forward but the floor collapsed beneath her, dumping her into the canal system.

"Ryona!" Dante followed after her without a second though. "You all right?" he asked her as he picked her back up."

"Yeah," She then watched as Mundus decided to make his last stand. "At least I was."

"_The gate has been opened. The two of you are not getting away. This is where you will die!"_

"Ahh, what's wrong?" Ryona gave a grin as she grabbed her swords. "Don't want to kidnap me anymore?"

"We're not going anywhere," Dante grinned. "Look around. There's nowhere to go. Besides, this will be your burial ground as well."

Compared to the last fight, this one was a breeze. All they really had to do was dodge his eye lasers. For being the god of the Underworld you'd think that he'd be stronger than he was. And then Ryona realized that as the stone was knocked off of him, revealing the orange body beneath, that something was wrong. Mundus seemed to be getting stronger.

_What is the matter? Here, you're powers are weak HUMAN!"_

"Then I guess it'll be my move," She placed herself in front of Dante. She was nervous, yes, unsure on how long she would be able to control her demonic powers this close to Mundus, but she was going to try. She had to try. "Stay behind me, Dante."

Dante's breath was hard as he backed up behind her. "You'll do just fine,"

The surge of power hit Dante hard as he watched the green electricity envelope her body as she changed into her Devil Trigger again. Her green form was humanoid with scale-like skin as she held a pair of leathery wings. Her red hair was wildly floating around her as her black/blue jacket hung on her shoulders as her matching tail whipped around her.

"_Just like your mother, Ryona," _Mundus chuckled. _"But are you as strong as she was, or even weaker?"_

His answer was a roar as Ryona zoomed forward, her speed being fast as she let her fists pound against him.

Dante watched as the two of them fought eachother. Grandfather against his Granddaughter. Ryona's moves were flawless and her dodging came quickly; in the beginning. He had seen her like this before. Her fear of losing control made her try to hold back her power and it seemed to be what Mundus was waiting on. When Ryona went to dodge again, he was waiting on her and hit her; hard.

"Ryona!" Dante's voice echoed a second cry and he turned to watch Trish jump down from above them and catch Ryona as her Devil Trigger faded away, leaving her in her human form.

"Trish!"

"Dante! Hurry and finish him!" Trish told him. "Here, use my power!"

Dante gave a grin as he was given Trish's electricity to use. "Not a problem."

Ryona had her eyes closed and Trish held her, keeping her from falling completely into the sewer water. "Are you all right?"

"Never better," Ryona grunted as she sat up a bit. Her head was pounding. She needed a nap.

"Looks like we have a winner," Trish smiled as she watched the end of the fight.

Dante gave a grin as he readied the fire his guns for the last time. "Jackpot!"

Ryona watched as the portal opened up behind Mundus and began to drag him back into the Underworld.

"_I will return! And I will rule this world!"_

"Goodbye. And when you do come back, give my regards to my son, will ya?" Dante called back.

Ryona gave a laugh as Trish finally helped her stand. "Or our daughter!" When the portal disappeared, Ryona took a better look at the blonde. "I thought you were dead,"

Trish gave a little laugh. "So had I, but your friend decided otherwise."

"Speaking of which, where is Michael?" Dante asked, glancing around.

"He sent me here to help you guys before going off to get something. He said that he would meet us outside."

"Yeah, well, I think that we're too late," Ryona sighed as the mansion continued to shake.

"Well, I don't know about that." Dante grinned at her.

"Oh yeah? Well I think that there's something wrong with you. How in the world are all three of us going to-" Her voice was cut off when the ceiling above them tumbled down, bringing the airplane with it. She crossed her arms and turned from the grin on the man's face. "Shut it."

"Are you two ready?" Dante asked as he ran forward, jumping into the driver's seat.

"There's only one other seat so the two of us are going to have to squeeze in together," Trish told Ryona.

"That won't be a problem!" The other woman hopped in first and pulled Trish in after her as Dante fired at the wall, opening a path.

"Let's rock!"

Navigating through the caves underneath Mallet Island gave a few worried moments but they soon found their way out just in time. The Island was now lost in the explosion.

"Michael!" Ryona sounded worried as she pulled up from the chair and stared down at the explosion. "He…he's-"

"Damn! It took the three of you long enough! What happened? The puppets decided to give you another fight?" Ryona's face turned from the fire and to the other side of the plane to find Michael floating there with his bag on his back, Hermes' boot back on his new leg. "Yo!" He gave her a grin.

"Michael, you bastard!" Ryona cried. Shoving Trish out of the way, Ryona jumped from the plan and grabbed ahold of Michael, calling him an idiot for making her worry.

Michael gave a laugh as he held onto her, keeping up with the airplane until he decided to take a seat on the wing next to Dante. He kept a tight grip on Ryona, just in case.

"Glad to see you're fine, Mikey," Dante grinned.

"Same to you. I was going to be pissed if you hadn't caught up with Trish." The other man told him. The four of them gave a laugh.

"The sky, it's so clear!" Trish sounded amazed. "It's so blue!"

"The sky is fair. It will always be above everyone's head; it's no different."

"So," Ryona glanced back at the island for a moment. "Mundus claims that he's still goin to try and break the Underworld free."

"They will, someday, return." Dante nodded.

"There's no need to worry, right?" Trish called up to him. "'Cause the world has the Legendary Dark Knight Dante; and his sidekicks," She grinned.

"I'm a sidekick now, huh?" Ryona gave a sigh as she closed her eyes. "Then I demanded payment. Dante's buying food before I do anything else."

"Pizza and alcohol," Michael grinned. "That sounds great to me!"

"A party at our place?" Ryona glanced at the man beside her.

"You damn straight!

_**~One More Sad Song**_

_**Tears Shed She's Gone**_

_**I'd Take It Back**_

_**If I Only Could~**_

"**Dammit!"** Ryona kicked at the floor as she left the bathroom. "I didn't grab that painting from mom's room." She hung her head and closed her eyes as she entered the bedroom. Opening them again, she took in the room. The dark dresser in the corner. The closet, the desk, the bed, the man sitting on the bed.

Dante gave a smile at her. "I left you some hot water, right?"

"Yes," She nodded as she moved to the dresser. She was too tired to do anything else, really. Pulling her pajamas on, she moved to the bed and joined the man there. Dante pulled the blanket up over her and wrapped his arm around her.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes, just tired. Grandfather was a pain in the ass."

Dante gave a laugh and kissed her forehead. "Believe me, I know. I offered the other room for Michael to stay behind and rest for the night, but he said that he had other plans. Trish went with him, too."

"Hmm," Ryona opened her eyes for a moment and went to turn the TV on when something on the wall across from the bed caught her eye. It was that painting. The painting of her mother, father, and uncle. She opened her mouth to try and talk several times before her voice finally worked. "Dante, the painting…"

"Oh, yeah," Dante gave a grin. "Michael gave this after you left to take a shower. That's what he went to get before the Mansion was destroyed."

Ryona looked like she was going to cry. "Risked being blown up to grab the painting, huh?"

"Well, that and a few other things." Dante nodded. "He likes to run his mouth but in all truth he still cares for you. It all adds up to how the two of you met which, I still don't know the answer to that."

Ryona gave a laugh as she stared at the painting across from them. "It was over twenty years ago, when I had taken that trip to Limbo city. It was when I had tried to ignore everything I was." Dante gave a nod, remembering that. She was…different when she had come back. Michael must have been a part of it. "Michael and I hated eachother at first but in the end we grew to like the other. Michael wanted revenge against the demons that had killed is brother when they took that sword, Alastor from him."

"You mean the one that was on the Island?" Dante asked her.

"Yep, that's the one. Michael ended up convincing me to grab the Elixir of Life. Only the hand of the royals of the Underworld can touch it. That's what he owes me for. He's never completed in paying me back for it, but I enjoy running into him every now and then. He's…like a brother, believe it or not."

Dante gave a smile. "Well, I'm sure that we'll end up running into him over the years so don't worry." He leaned back in the pillows again and glanced at her. "So, you gave the Elixir of Life to a human you barely even knew, huh?"

"Well, when I found out that I was related to Mundus, I didn't care. I didn't want anything to do with them and when I learned that only my mother's blood could unlock the seal on it, I tried to find if I was Aowin's daughter or not. The result gave me my answer."

Dante gave another grin as he stared at the ceiling. "Well, about your mother, I have to say she's one hell of a babe," He glanced over at her again. "But you take the light on being better."

Ryona gave a laugh as she rested her head on the man's shoulder. With this mission over, the two of them didn't plan on taking another for a few days, giving them time to rest.

If you could call what they planned on doing 'rest'.

**PLEASE REVIEW :)**


	14. In the Future

And So Devil May Cry is over. I love these games and Dante is a huge fave of mine. I do plan on writing the other three games of the series, the next one being DMC4, so I will post an update here when the game begins, I promise!


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